Adam & Eve
by LilacsBloom
Summary: They were supposed to end up in Valhalla; that was the plan. Instead she and Noel were stranded in another world with no means of reaching Lightning. But finding her sister seemed to be the least of their worries. [Hiatus.]
1. Paradise

A/N: I always set myself the challenge that if I write about characters in a bizarre situation, I do so where they remain in canon. With an idea like this, it's very easy for it to fall victim to whatever a fanfic author might want to happen, rather than what the characters would really do. Thus we do not control the characters, but the characters control us. We study them and how they behave, and then we can only act on that to the best of our ability.

So I hope that I've pulled this off to which all Noerah fans and maybe non Noerah fans will enjoy. I dedicate this chapter to you and the many more who may happen to stumblr across this story in the future, kupo!

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><p><strong><em>Adam &amp; Eve<em>**

_Chapter 1 – Paradise_

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><p>Time travel was once something Serah thought could only exist in the imagination of people. To have the ability to go back in time and change the past, it was what Serah had longed for more than once in her life; to stop her dad dying on duty in the Guardian Corps, to save her mom from getting sick with that illness…to stop Lightning from disappearing. But the wish to alter past events was like chasing the impossible. No matter how many times Serah went over things in her head, thinking of how they might've played out differently if she'd known what was going to happen…well, it didn't change anything, because back then, time travel wasn't achievable.<p>

And then in one night, that all changed when she met Noel; the young man who lived 700 years in her future. And soon, they were setting out on their journey through the centuries, all in the company of a moogle Serah thought could only be real in mythology. The thing was, their whole adventure had felt like jumble of myths and legends come to life. But none of it was a lie, it was all the truth.

Their quest to find Lightning had been a long road; filled with its highs and its lows. They had done so much together, things Serah was sure she would never forget in this lifetime or the next. But it was only a matter of time before they would draw near to the end of their journey, and finally, they did…or so they thought.

Within the gate they restored in Academia, they saw Valhalla, the place in which Lightning was waiting. Prepared for their final confrontation with Caius, they had said their goodbyes to Hope and Alyssa, and allowed themselves to be absorbed into the gate.

Serah remembered her first trip through the Historia Crux, how amazed she was by those magical crossroads both she, Noel and Mog levitated in, as if caught in the coils of a wind tunnel. Even though was no wind of such to hold them up, it was a strange feeling every time, as if they were flying without the need of wings. That excitement steadily worn down over Serah's many revisits there, that it became second nature to her. Even so, her and Noel couldn't resist the temptation of giving a twirl in the pathways they floated in every once and awhile. This time around however, they were more mind set on their quest than that of the thrills of defying gravity, believing that a battle would be awaiting the trio once they reached the other side.

Despite how smooth a trip through the Historia Crux was, exiting a gate was always the tricky part. The sudden change in gravity pulling down and being dropped out from the gate at the same thing, often made landing on ones feet a luck of the draw...well, for Serah anyway. Because although she tried to ready herself for it each time, often than not she would wind up falling over, while her partner would pull off his own landing perfectly with not a single hitch.

It seemed landing on her rear end had become a bad habit of Serah's, but Noel was always there to help her up; often with a witty comment in hand as well.

_"Need some assistance Milady?"_

The fact Noel found her clumsiness amusing embarrassed Serah. She wanted be courageous like Lightning, but her lack in balance made a mockery of her, that on every tumble, Serah would have to pat herself off and quickly march ahead, before Noel could see the faint glow on her cheeks from embarrassment.

He always could tell of course. Noel wasn't one to be oblivious. They'd been traveling together for over three months…or maybe more. Time seemed impossible to keep track of anymore, even so, that length of time they had spent every day of together, enabled Noel be able to read her like a book. Serah never had to say a word; he would just _know_ when something was bothering her just by the how she carried herself, at least that's what he'd once told her. Noel was great at analyzing people like that, which made her cumbersome act of falling over even more unbearable, because he knew it embarrassed her and he knew cracking jokes would make it worse. He always had been such a tease.

Still, what Serah wouldn't give to relive any one of those moments, anything, than to be experiencing_ this_.

Always it was a sight to behold, how their bodies radiated with light on leaving a Time Gate. The sparkling afterglow of those translucent gold rays, rippling over their skin and clothes like the gentle currents of waters were mesmerizing, that when Serah wasn't being transfixed on their new surroundings, her breath would be stolen away by those few second wonders.

When Serah had fallen this time on leaving the gate, Noel on cue immediately went to pull her up, much hastier than usual in fear of the threat of Caius and the eternal battle that he and Lightning were locked in to the death. But they had quickly realized this wasn't Valhalla. Instead they ended up in a different, but very much familiar world. And upon Noel's hand linking with hers, they had been made aware of another problem as his blue eyes went wide, and he froze.

It hadn't taken Serah long to figure out why. It was the touch of Noel's hand on hers that had given the first warning sign. Too much warmth resonated from Noel's touch, because there was no leather separating her skin from his. Her gloves were missing; and as that heavenly golden light on their bodies evaporated into nothingness and the summer breeze hit their skin, so did they realize-

"Aaaah!"

"Aaarh!"

…their clothes were gone too.

Somehow on making the trip from the Historia Crux and into this time, every possession on them had failed materialize on the other side. To make matters worse, no Time Gates were anywhere to be seen, meaning they couldn't travel back to Academia, leaving the two in the worst predication Serah could ever imagine beside those to do with turning to crystal or the end of the world; but it sure came close.

Today was not a good day.

"Serah?"

She could tell what Noel was about to say, she'd heard it in the low sigh he'd made on his return from scouting the area to know it wasn't good news. They were in the vast forest of Sunleth Waterscape within the Riparian Corridor valley, and Serah knew off the top of her head that there was no civilization for miles. So really, there was only one thing they could do, yet still Serah refused to move from where she sat by one of the trunks of the large trees surrounding them, the thought of budging from that spot filling her with fear.

Her shut eyes on Noel's approach, her arms wrapping tighter around the wriggling Mog, who was the only means available to conceal her nakedness from the young man. The poor moogle however was not enjoying the close proximity of her body one bit, nor having the life slowly squeezed out of him.

"K-Kupo…!"

Old leafs mingled in the grass crunched under Noel's feet as he walked over, stopping short of her.

He took a deep breath. "Serah-"

"No!" she cried, furiously shaking her head, "No! No! No! NO!"

"We can't stay here," Noel told her, his tone surprising calm considering their little problem. "This place is overrun with monsters and we don't have the proper means to defend ourselves. The longer we stick around, the more we run the risk of not getting out of here in one piece."

Just like the vanishing trick of their garments and belongings, so were Noel's weapons gone, even down to the hunting knife he kept strapped to his belt. They still had Mog who could transform into a bow or sword if Serah so chose, but Noel must've figured out she wasn't about to hand the moogle over right now, not without a fight.

"I'm not moving, Noel!" Serah said, holding Mog closer to her body as she huddled up further into a protective ball. "I c-can't…I can't do it!"

If it were Lightning here, she would've told her to stop being a cry baby and get on with it. Nudity certainly wasn't something to go losing a life over, or endangering others at that. Still it was surprising how much leeway Noel was giving her about all this. But that Serah was sure that would eventually give out, along with his patience.

"Serah, I know this is hard for you, but we can't sit around and wait for help. Nobody is going to come looking for us. The only ones who can bail us out of this,_ is us_. We have to go_;_ the sooner for the better don't you think?" Noel said to her with a sincerity that it made something stir within Serah's chest.

She bit down hard on her lip, trying to banish it.

"I know, b-but…"

Why did Noel have to make this sound like such an easy thing to do? It wasn't like Serah was used to being naked. She and Snow had only ever kissed; they'd never gone as far as the bedroom because in truth they hadn't been properly married. Like everything else in Serah's life, their marriage was put on hold after Lightning disappeared. Time moved on for everybody else, but she was stuck in limbo, waiting for the grains of sand to drop, because as far as Serah was concerned, she could never truly be happy, not without her sister. And Snow, had known it too…

So while others in their small community fell in love; got married; had kids and shared their lives with their other half, Serah could only watch on in envy, sad she wasn't able to experience any of that happiness of raising a family, or the intimacy of love with her hero. For this it was why Serah wasn't used to the bareness of another's skin. And right now she was scared of at what she would see; scared of what Noel would see, if he hadn't seen enough already.

How much Serah wished this wasn't happen. She wanted to be in Valhalla with her sister, not here, or like _this._

"You're afraid I'll look," Noel said. It wasn't a question.

With small audible whine, Serah gave a quick nod of her head.

"I see," Noel fell quiet for a while as he stayed pondering amongst his thoughts, before he asked, "If we work out a system, then will you go?"

This caused Serah to open her eyes, just barely catching a glimpse of Noel's toned legs before she forced them shut again, and she buried her reddening face onto the top of the Mog's head, his jewel antenna tickling her cheek. "S-System, what kind of system?"

"Well…" Noel shifted on the ground where he stood, taking some time to think it over some more. "How about this, wherever we go I'll walk ahead and you just follow. So long as you're behind me, I won't see anything. Sound good?"

Serah's heart thudded out of control against her ribs, making it difficult to consider anything. Whether she wanted to or not, she needed to think rationally about this. She couldn't remain here and leave Noel to do the grunt work of searching for the Time Gates by himself. He had already taken a big enough risk earlier when he'd left her alone. If the three wanted to survive, Serah didn't really have any other choice. They had to work together on this.

Not that this really made Serah feel any better.

"You promise, no peeking?"

Noel didn't falter for a second. "I swear on it."

Serah narrowed her lips, "Cross your heart?"

"And hope to die," finished Noel.

"Stick a needle in your eye?"

"Stick a needle…that's a little extreme, isn't it?"

"Just say it!" Serah squirmed, hugging the frantic Mog tighter.

"Haha alright, okay, I solemnly swear to stick as many needles in my eyes as you so wish," Noel chuckled, exhaling a breath from his lungs. "Already pledged my life to you as it is, blinding myself needn't be much of a problem."

Despite how serious Serah wanted him to be, she couldn't help but crack a smile. Even during the darkest times on their journey, thinking positive was always Noel's strategy, whether for readying for an impending battle, or when dealing with issues of the past or present. Whether they were words of encouragement or Noel just being himself…he did help, more than he probably realized.

"You don't have to do that," Serah said a little less on edge. "All I'm asking is you don't stare, or I'll set NORA on you, and Snow, a-and Lightning!"

"There's no need to worry. I make promises, I don't break them." Noel said with an honesty striven into his vow. "As a hunter and future guardian you have my word."

Serah's vice hold around Mog loosened, much to moogle's relief, as some of the tension and anxiety cooped up inside her was dispelled from her muscles.

"Thank you," she said. Eyes still closed, Serah tilted her head in the young man's direction. "But Noel, what about you?"

"What about me?"

The confusion in his voice made Serah's face go hot again. "If you walk ahead, t-then I'll…"

She couldn't bring herself to finish, not in a million years. Fortunately it was her silence that finished for Noel what she could not. He got the message.

"I'm not a prude, I'll be fine," Noel said with such casualness she envied him for. Serah could almost hear the smile in his voice. "Just don't go getting too distracted by the scenery, we clear on that?"

Serah wasn't naïve, but it took her more time than need be to figure out Noel wasn't talking about the views in Sunleth Waterscape.

"Oh! Yes we're clear, I swear on it too!" she nodded, feeling Mog in her arms do the very same. "Kupo, kupo!"

"That's good," Noel spoke affirmatively and he approached her by a few steps, and a few steps alone. "So, shall we?"

Her breath held; Serah felt every one of her limbs lock in place and in that very second, she seized up. Her brain told her to move, but her body refused to budge an inch. Instead she was huddling into a smaller more protective ball, still conflicted from within.

"I said you can trust me," Noel reassured her, flinching on hearing him move closer. "See? No eyes."

Cautiously Serah cracked one eyelid open, followed hesitantly by the other and her heart once again went rampant. Noel was knelt right in front of her and a whole lot nearer than she'd anticipated him to be, that it took her by surprise.

It wasn't like she hadn't seen him naked before. Serah had the misfortunate of that occurrence much earlier on, the day after the meteorite hit in New Bodhum. She had risen early that morning, having not gotten much sleep, since so much was on her mind from the night before. She thought a quick shower might help wake her up, but little did she know she wasn't the only one to be out of bed. Lebreau was already in the kitchen, getting ready to prepare breakfast for the team who were still heard snoring fast asleep in their rooms, along with the familiar sound of-

_'Is someone in the shower?'_

_'Oh, that was me. I must've forgotten to switch it off. Sorry about that.'_ Lebreau had told her innocently, while getting the pots and pans out. _"Why dontcha go on in? I'm sure it'll do you a whole load of good after all that fighting last night.'_

Despite being somewhat suspicious of Lebreau's smile, Serah still feeling drowsy, had gone against her better judgment and continued on her way…and got one hell of a scare when she stepped into the bathroom, just as Noel was stepping out of the shower.

Serah had never run so fast from the NORA house, nor screamed so loud in her entire life.

_'Lebreauuu!'_

_'You're welcome!'_

What better way to start off her journey than seeing her recently acquainted companion in the nude, and then having to convinced Gadot afterwards that Noel hadn't been trying anything with her, just to get him to stop strangling the hunter draped in nothing else but a towel; although Noel sucker punching him out cold seemed to have done the trick, not that Gadot would ever forgive him for it.

The situation they were in now was worse any misunderstandings, a hell of a lot worse. They were stuck in the middle of nowhere, stripped of their garments and everything on them and they had no answers as to why; only time would tell if things would be alright again, and if the three of them would live long enough for a tomorrow. One thing was certain though, was that Serah didn't have to be afraid of Noel. He wasn't a creep or con artist as Gadot kept suspecting him to be. Serah had learnt that through their time together as they had eventually become friends that they were now, searching for the same goals.

After everything they'd endured, Noel respected her. So, even if she was afraid right now, Serah knew she trusted him enough not to go back on his word, just as much as she entrusted her life to him.

"No eyes…" Serah repeated, looking up at Noel from where she sat on the grass. His head was turned away, with his eyes directed elsewhere. As promised he didn't goggle her like any other man might've if put in his place. She could see those pronounced blue irises of his moving, holding a focus on the forest he firmly maintained, and never once gazing upon her.

Noel's hand was held out, waiting for her to take it.

With some deep breaths, Serah plucked up the courage to move. Trembling she rested her hand on Noel's larger unwavering one, feeling a shiver run down her spine by his fingers closing securely around her hand with the same comforting heat as before. And with little to no resistance at all, Serah allowed Noel to pull her up with him.

"Kupooo!"

It was in the midst of this, Mog, upon realizing that only one arm held him captive, took the opportunity to escape and wriggled free of Serah's clutches before she could stop him.

"Mog no! M-Mog!" she cried helplessly as the moogle flew out of her reach. Yet despite her pleading, Mog stayed far away from her, fussily swing his clock staff around in the air.

"I am not a toy, kupo! I am not! I am not, kupo!" He exclaimed in his high pitched voice, continuing to rant on with many kupo's along the way. But Serah struggled to listen, because with the last of her cover gone, she suddenly felt more vulnerable than she already was.

If not for Noel's hand holding hers, keeping her there, she might've collapsed down on the grass again.

"Whoa now, easy there Mog. That's being a bit brash considering things, isn't it?" the young man said as he interrupted the moogle, while pointing out an accusing finger. "Or were you or were you not the one who said Serah was your favorite?"

Serah had almost forgotten that shy comment Mog had spoken back in the Bresha ruins, when they were unsure of what to do about Atlas who had loomed high above the ruins in the pouring rain. It felt like years ago now. In some ways with all this era leaping, it was.

Mog sunk lower in the air from where he floated, nervously twirling at the tiny gem on his staff. "Yes, kupo."

"Then why don't you play nice and cut her some slack," Noel suggested, one corner of his mouth turning upwards. "Not every human on the planet is fine and dandy with going around naked as you are, Mog."

"Kupo…" the moogle's face became grave with sadness, and he had no sooner apologized to her, before drifting away from them like a disciplined child.

It wasn't his fault. The blame was all hers for reacting in the way that she had. If they ever got out of here alive, Serah was sure she would make it up to the little moogle.

Noel's hand gently tightened around hers, the tender act making her cheeks flush with heat once more.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, y-yeah I'm fine," Serah lied, fully aware her body was shaking uncontrollably. Her mind a jumbled mess, she covered her free arm awkwardly over her chest. "So um, where to?"

"Honestly? I don't have the answer to that, not just yet," Noel set his eyes on Mog, who was floating around the lush wilderness of the forest around them with innocent curiosity, "I'd say following our winged friend is our best bet for now, maybe see if he can track us down one of those gates"

"Okay…" Serah followed his gaze, "And if, that doesn't work?"

Noel combed a hand through his hair, looking decisive. "Then we go where the flow takes us. We'll figure something out."

Even though he spoke confidence, Serah couldn't help feeling uneasy by those words._ Go where the flow takes them,_ it sounded like something Snow might've said if he was here. Serah tried to imagine him with her now, holding her hand like Noel was…and she felt the need to pull away, even though physically she couldn't.

For so long she'd wanted Snow to be at her side, to not lay awake at night worrying about her hero in some far off land. But like every one of her hopes and dreams they wilted, until thinking of Snow became too painful a thing to do. Still Serah missed him, even after what had transpired the last time they met.

But she couldn't think about that right now. She'd done fine on her own without Snow or Lightning, and she could deal with this too. Serah trusted Noel judgment, and that was enough for her, for now.

"The flow," Serah echoed, digging her toes into the grass. "I can...I can do that."

"That's good," Noel said with a smile, and directed a thumb over out at the forest. "So how about the three of us make haste and go about finding ourselves a way out of here, agreed?"

Serah gingerly nodded making the effort to smile too, even if Noel couldn't see it.

"Yeah, let's get going…"

It was only some time after they set out together, walking through that beautiful wilderness of Sunleth, that Serah realized they were still holding each other's hand. She halted when she did; bringing Noel to a stop as well as she glanced silently up at him with uncertainty. Only when Serah slowly released her grip, did Noel at last let go too, the touch of his hand seeming to linger on hers, before it finally slipped away.

The whole thing happened without a single word exchanged, and they soon carried on walking again afterwards, with neither saying anything about it. But for a long time after, Serah still felt as if her hand were burning from where Noel held it. And as she cradled it now, try and try she might, Serah couldn't untangle the knot of emotions in her heart enough to figure out if it'd been her who was the one disinclined to let go, or Noel...

But there was one emotion Serah was very well aware of, and one she had felt too many times in the recent weeks.

_**Guilt.**_


	2. Flantastic

A/N: The discussions Noel and Serah share are my favorite things about the game. The way those two talk about an event like some murder mystery is always an enjoyment to watch. I don't like crime series, but if those two were the leading detectives with Mog as their mutt, I'd tune in every time.

I want to thank you all for your wonderful feed back. Your words of support have been a huge encouragement to me that I could never thank you enough. So as promised, here's another chapter of Noerah to feast your eyes upon. Enjoy!

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><p><strong><em>Adam &amp; Eve<em>**

_Chapter 2 – Flantastic_

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><p>If three years ago somebody had told Serah she would one day set out on a time-traveling quest to change the future, which would eventually lead to her being here, naked in Sunleth, while in the accompany of a talking moogle and a naked man 700 years from the her future...Serah would've voluntarily handed that person over to a sanitarium and not believe single word of it. And yet, here she was caught up in the unbelievable made possible, wishing for every second of every minute that she would wake up snug in her bed back in New Bodhum; where Lighting, Snow and everybody else would be waiting there, safe and sound.<p>

Unfortunately for Serah, no amount of cheek pinching allowed her to wake from what was very much reality, just as the irritable bites from six mosquitos continued to remind her of that.

**_Slap!_**

…Make that, seven mosquitos.

On the bright side, the large stems of the crystal pillar they passed in the forest didn't appear to be under attack anywhere, so at least Fang and Vanille were safe for now. It was a shame Serah couldn't say the same for their group, because as of yet, they hadn't stumbled cross any visible paradoxes that needed unraveling; Time Gates or even an artefact. However there were worse dangers at hand, beyond the blatantly obvious of being stranded naked. The forest here was teeming with monsters of the strong variety, and with the mass numbers of them that there were, fighting was not an option.

It was lucky Noel had more experience surviving in the harsh wilderness than Serah's combined years of growing up on Cocoon, otherwise without his guidance, Serah didn't want to think of how long she would've lasted should they have not taken the course of action that they did.

Their plan to avoid the monsters had been a simple one; ascend upwards. With the size and scale of the trees they would be able to traverse the massive branches, which weaved together to form a connector of bridges leading them up high amongst the trees. Noel told her it would be safer than on the ground and give them a better look-out for any Time Gates in the area, but that it also they might somehow help them to get closer to reaching that secluded area high within Sunleth where they had been to on previous visits. Serah couldn't have agreed more, but she couldn't help suddenly regretting that decision.

"How you holding up back there?" Noel called back to her, from which she struggled to form a reply.

Currently, she and Noel were maneuvering across some branches, each no wider than a plank of wood. With every step taken, the branches buckled under their weight, with some areas of bark so thick with moss that one wrong move could spell disaster. It was for this reason Noel had moved closer to her, in case of the event that she slipped he would be there to catch her, or vice versa. However because of this need to be closer, it meant Noel was forever drifting into her line of sight, causing Serah to frequently catch a glimpse of some backyard scenery that was making it difficult to concentrate.

Noel still remained true to the oath in not to look directly at her, though many a time Serah had still found herself checking to make sure Noel wasn't being a peeping tonberry. She hadn't caught him out yet and probably wouldn't. He had always been a loyal friend even back when she first met him, so she was relieved on that aspect. For Serah on the other hand, it seemed she was paying the price for having lived such a sheltered life, and when being hundreds of feet off the ground walking a very thin line between life and death, going weak at the knees over things she wasn't used to seeing was _not_ a good idea.

Serah gulped for having nearly slipped for the third or fourth time, the long drop making her queasy. "Noel, do me a favor and please ever don't ask me that again, okay?"

A weak piece of branch broke off under Noel's foot the moment he put his weight on it. The hunter yelped, just managing to pull back in time and hold this balance, saving himself from falling along with that branch as it landed on the head of a scalebeast sleeping far below on the forest floor. Immediately woken from it's slumber, the large monster gave a roar, rattling it's thick scales in an angry display, tail whipping about as it lumbered around confused, trying to find who or what had dared to wake it.

So fortunate it was for them, a scalebeast's neck wasn't that great for looking up, or it may have seen the two humans and their moogle hiding up high above it in the trees, with their backs pressed against the nearest trunk as they remained perfectly still.

Noel gave a long unsettled pause before he slowly nodded, "Duly noted."

After the monster had wandered off, they continued on with scaling the trees with a little more caution than before. Ahead of them Mog remained on a constant look out, searching this way and that for anything suspicious. His jewelled bobble that had always acted as a sixth sense for find things out of the ordinary, was now less lit than Serah had ever seen it, and no amount of distance they covered made that jewel glow any brighter.

"Any luck yet Mog? Can you sense anything?" Serah asked meekly, already having a good hunch of what the answer would be. But was a routine for them now, asking that question every once and a while.

Mog sounded just as meek as her. "Not yet, kupo."

Just as she thought, "Great..."

"Maybe we should throw him, see if anything comes up," Noel suggested with a sly grin, receiving a frightened kupo from the terrified moogle as he quickly put as much distance between him and Noel as possible.

The poor thing was still traumatised after the young man had thrown him through some lasers in the Augusta Towers months before. They had been trapped there too, back when Adam was trying to make duplicates of them from their DNA, like Alyssa. It was only by the moogle's help and Noel's good throwing arm that they had gotten out alive, in allowing Mog to reach the control panel to deactivate the moving lasers keeping them prisoner; a process they had needed to repeat several more times as they had ventured up more floors, containing even more lasers of which the moogle was just as unwilling to cross as the last.

Though Noel teased Mog about it now and again, it hadn't been any laughing matter at the time. With the many traps Adam had set for them, it was a miracle they had defeated the Proto fal'cie and gotten out alive. Yet thinking about it now, Serah would gladly gone through it all again, because at least in the Augusta Tower their odds of survival seemed higher than they were here; because at least back then, they knew how to get out of that mess, and had the tools on them do it.

"How much longer this is going to take?" Serah questioned aloud to herself, though having not meant to. She was worried, about all of this. Not just about the unusual circumstances of their belongings and clothes being gone, but that they had never gone this far out of a range of a Time Gate before. Even miles away Mog could still detect their presence. So what did that mean? Were they miles and miles from the nearest gate, or were there no gates at all? The thought made an unpleasant dread dwell in the very pit of her stomach, not wanting any of it to be true.

Why was this happening?

A large button nosed suddenly appeared in front of Serah's face, almost startling her as she was broken out of thought. But it had taken her no more than a second to recognize that over pronounced feature belonged to none other than Mog himself.

"Don't worry, Serah. There's nothing I can't find," said the moogle, valiantly holding his clock staff up as if he were a knight with a sword, "With Mog on the case there's no need to fear, kupopo!"

"Piggy Kitty's right. Turn that frown upside down, and think positive. It's much too early to be having doubts," Noel said, as he hopped up one branch, leaning a hand against the trunk as he waited for her. "We'll just keep moving until we find someplace we recognize, and go from there."

"Okay...you're both right, I'm sorry," Serah said, recounting the words Noel had spoken back in the Void Beyond about the Goddess and to never give up hope. They were useful words of advice that had helped her when down in the dumps over her sister. She had wanted to find Lightning sooner rather than later, and still did now, but the other meaning behind Noel's little 'legend' was to be patient as well. And right now, Serah knew the same applied here too.

She took a deep breath, trying to find strength in those words once again. "Anyway, how did_ you_ know if I was frowning?"

"Because I don't need eyes to second guess you, Miss Farron, that's why," said Noel with a chuckle, as she shoot a look of suspicion at the young man whom had his back respectfully turned to her while they climbed.

Even so, Serah couldn't help smiling too. "I'm that easy to figure out, huh?"

"Yup," with a flinch, up came Noel's hand, slapping the crook of his neck where a mosquito had taken bite. "Probably best if we watched it now. This isn't the coziest of places to be having a chat."

It was then that Serah became aware once more of the nauseating drop that they stood over, having almost forgotten that her feet were precariously resting on two separate branches. And if that wasn't off putting enough, she could see there was a whole herd of scalebeasts below, feasting on the body of some unidentifiable monster that they were tearing to bloody shreds with their powerful jaws.

Quickly Serah steadied herself, forcing air into her lungs before vertigo could set in and force her into joining them.

"Y, Yeah…"

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><p>Compared to the most deadliest of monsters, miniflan were something extraordinary. Without paradoxes manipulating their minds into merging together to form one giant monster, they weren't actually <em>that<em> aggressive compared to other breeds of flan; if anything they were rather placid, if curious creatures, so long as they weren't threatened. So when the trees grew in scale and the branches finally begun thickening out, allowing for an easier passage, there had been little cause for concern when they spotted a miniflan slithering happily along minding it's own business. Except until that is, that same miniflan in question had spotted the trio as well, and had called out to it's fellow flan, who had all come jumping out of hiding as balls of orange jello rained down on them.

It hadn't taken long for the group to find themselves overrun by these schools of flan, that cooed in awe at the humans and moogle they had never seen before in their lives, as if they were aliens from another planet. They reminded Serah of the flans she had once scolded in a not too distant future from now, when the trees were wilted and the forest a frozen hue. Though unlike those flan of the future, none here bared any striking colors on their slime tomato bodies; a trademark they were yet to develop.

That had been 400AF, so did that mean they were stuck in a time before that? Perhaps...

"I think they like you," Noel said, referring to the miniflans to have gathered around Serah from where she stood back-to-back with the young hunter.

They couldn't move from where they were on the branch because too many flan were blocking their way. Mostly it was a case of just waiting for the flans' curiosity to wear off until they went away; yet they showed no intention of leaving just yet. More and more seemed to be coming; slipping out from crevasses in the trees and jumping down from the high branches in endless supply. It was all a little overwhelming, along with the unkind stench the miniflans brought. Regardless Serah was still happy to see them, that if it weren't for being naked, she probably would have greeted the miniflans more openly, though she still tried to make an effort.

"I think you're right. They are kind of sweet, aren't they?" fondly Serah reached out, petting one of flans on its leafy stalk. "It's so strange though, I wonder why they're more interested in me than you, Noel?"

Granted miniflans were always friendly wherever they went, but there was something about these flans Serah couldn't put her finger on. It wasn't that they were just friendly, they were being overly affectionate than any others they'd encountered. And it showed in the way this one miniflan was behaving as it leaned into her touch, almost purring in a cat-like manner, with those large silver eyes soft with..._adoration?_

Regrettably, Mog soon cleared up as to why. "They're searching for their Flanero and Flanliet, kupo,"

Serah stopped petting the miniflan. "Flanero and Flanliet?"

The moogle nodded as he drifted by. "The other half to complete them. It's the flan breeding season for them all, kupo!"

Serah snatched back her hand from the overly aroused miniflan, nearly bumping into Noel as she sprung away from it.

"Oh! W-Well um, that explains it then," she nervously laughed, suddenly feeling at the mercy of that sea of drooling mouths. She never believed she would think this again after what happened with the giant flan, but miniflans sure could look intimidating when they wanted to.

The cuteness about them had begun to wear off a little.

"Serah, do you remember when the flans were drawn to the artefacts?" Noel quizzed as he addressed her from behind.

"When Snow was with us? Sure, how could I forget that?" Serah glanced over her shoulder. "Wait, are you saying we should-"

"Just that," Noel's arm inadvertently brushed with Serah's, making her jump, as he turned to the moogle floating beside them. "Mog, ask the flans if they've seen anything unusual of late. Like a Time Gate or anything like that."

Mog gave a 'kupo!' and turned to the miniflans, waving his staff to get their attention. After a chittery exchange between flans and moogle, Mog came back with an answer. "They haven't. The only strange things they have seen are us, kupo."

"Flantastic," Noel said, and cursed under his breath. "There goes that plan up in smoke."

So following the orange paved branches of flan wasn't going to help them this time. Serah could barely hide her disappointment. But if it was as they suspected, could there really be no Time Gates in Sunleth Waterscape? Even if there weren't, they still needed a good idea of what era they were in.

Then she got an idea.

"Wait, Mog."

"Kupo?"

Serah looked to the moogle. "Can you ask them if there's a giant flan that lives around here? One that rules over the entire land."

"You mean the…" Noel trailed off, quickly catching on.

The last time they were here, Mog had turned them both into monsters in order to poison the second giant flan to appear months after defeating the first; his Royal Ripness. The giant flan threatened to take over Cocoon and destroy it, and had no choice but to stop it. They'd succeeded with their mission, but the transformation spell came at the cost of some unpleasant side-effects, which Serah was still bitter about today. She didn't sprout a tail or anything like that, but her hair got greasier a lot sooner than it usually used to, requiring her to wash it more frequently. As for Noel, he'd developed a strong appetite for cheese, mature and rotten alike. Whichever way they looked at it, both had drawn the short straw, and as since, neither had allowed the moogle to attempt anymore transformation spells in case they became more monster than human.

Serah stood by, her fingers crossed as Mog gave her messaged over to the miniflan. And within a few seconds Mog was hit with a bombshell of news that he rushed to translate back.

"His Royal Ripness, he passed away not too many moons ago, kupo!"

"That soon?" Serah blurted, trying not to sounded too pleased in front of the flans as not to offended them. But inside her heart was pounding with fresh hope.

Even Noel sounded excited. "That means it's only been a few days since we were last here. The Time Gates could still be open!"

"Right! If it is, then we just have to find them!" Serah said.

Mog might've been having a hard time trying to locate where any Time Gates were, but that didn't necessarily mean they _weren't_ there. However small the possibility, they needed to find that clearing in the forest where his Royal Ripness once resided and see it for themselves. If it meant reaching Lightning sooner, Serah was willing to take the risk. And with this many Miniflans around, the place they were looking had to be close by. If they searched enough, perhaps they would be able find it.

It was worth a try at least.

A soft bawl grabbed Serah's attention. One of the miniflan had come forward, bearing larger more distinct leafs than its fellow flans. A strange sunny glow was in its silvery eyes as it spoke out to her in its imponderable language.

Serah stared at the flan confused. "What's he saying Mog?"

"He says…you're the prettiest flan ever, kupo" the moogle replied quietly.

"Some flan all right," Noel chortled, only to wince when Serah's elbow jabbed him roughly in his side from behind.

Serah smiled innocently. "That is so sweet. Mog, tell him I said thank you."

"…"

"Mo…Mog?"

The moogle turned the staff around nervously in his hands. "That's not all the flan said, kupo."

"It's not?" Serah glanced at drooling monster with a sudden unease. "What else did he say?"

Mog hesitated. "He asked…the flan is asking if you'll be his mate, kupo."

"WHAT!?" Serah shrieked, nearly knocking Noel over as she stumbled back into him, resisting all temptations to climb up on the young man's back as the flan merrily slithered closer towards to her to regain the ground lost between them. "Tell me he didn't say that! _Please_ tell me he didn't say that!"

Serah could put up with men twice her age flirting with her any day, she could even endure the embarrassing drunken confessions from Yuj proclaiming his undying love for her in front of all of NORA. But this? It was ludicrous! She didn't want a flan-crossed lover, and especially not at a time like this!

"He's got guts; I'll give him that." Noel said with a smirk. "Not that I knew flans had any. See they-"

"I didn't ask for a history lesson, Noel!" Serah retorted, jabbing his side again. "And this isn't funny!"

"Perhaps, but you should consider it a compliment," He told her with an overly intense charm and seduction that assured her he was fooling around. "You've won over the heart of a flan, not many can tell a tale like that."

"Who would want to?" Serah asked, her eyes stuck on the cooing flan before there. "And it's easy for you to say. You're not the one getting all the attention!"

"Really now? Then what do you call _that_?" At his invitation, Serah stood up on her tip toes and peered out from over Noel's shoulder and was startled to find that many a more Miniflans were staring at young man with the same love-struck gazes as the ones gathered around her, that hearts may as well have been carved above their heads. So_ this _was where the female flan population had all gotten to...not that Serah could particularly tell them apart anyway.

Noel hooked a thumb and forefinger under his chin. And with a hum, the corner of his mouth crept up. "I think they like what they see."

Never had Serah had such an urge to hit the young man.

"Excuse me, kupo!" Mog waved a mitten paw from where he floated with the flan-in-waiting, its eyes getting larger and dreamier looking by the second. "What should I tell him, kupo?"

"What do you think? NO! Tell him no!" Serah yelled.

Mog quickly passed on the message and it didn't take long for her admirer to be shot down. Heart broken, the flan sadly carried himself off, slipping away amongst the other flans…only for three more suitors to eagerly take his place.

"Well that didn't resolve much of anything," Noel edged back cautiously as the flans around them started getting more agitated, piling up over themselves by the plentiful. "I think we might have a problem on our hands."

Serah shuffled closer to him, failing in her attempt to sound more sarcastic than afraid. "Thank you Captain Cryptic, I didn't notice that until now!"

Everywhere she looked drooling faces of slime greeted her. There were more flans than Serah could count and more were pouring out of the trees, squealing over the two humans they had boxed in like flies swarming to a carcase. Things were getting out of control that it wouldn't be long until she and Noel would have a riot descending upon them.

"What do you say, we fight our way out?" Noel suggested to her, knowing full well that he would be willing to slay as many flans as it took get out of this. Serah nearly came close to agreeing too, but she couldn't. miniflans were just miniflans, simply creatures that didn't mean anyone harm. Killing them would be like killing children. But then what could they do? Shouting at them did no good. And unlike her talented class in 400AF, these flan couldn't understand a word of what Serah and Noel were saying. Her years as a school teacher were of no use to her here.

There had to be another way.

Helplessly Serah turned to the moogle who was trying to knock a few flans back with his staff. "Mog, can't you talk to them?"

Mog looked to her jittery. "What should I say, ku-"

"Anything!" Serah cried, covering her ears along with Noel as the flans squealing voices rose to unprecedented levels. "Just make them go away, please!"

It took no more than a few seconds for an idea to be conjured up by the little moogle. Once it was there, courageously Mog flew up over the miniflans, his plushie head held high and his mitten paws clutched tightly on the staff at the ready. And in a shrilling pitched voice of authority, Mog addressed the Miniflans.

Immediately the moogle got their attention, making every last flan fall silent as they ceased their shoving, and listened. Mog's speech in flan tongue continued for over a minute, gesturing to both Serah and Noel through out, while the two waited on the sidelines with bated breath for the verdict.

It was not what they expect. As soon as Mog was finished, the miniflans quietly turned back to her and Noel in a long and creepy stare off...before letting out a painfully loud wail in unison, and all at once, their tomato bodies deflated to half their size in disappointment, as if every last one of them had been pricked with a needle.

And then just like that, the flans left.

She and Noel remained perfectly still as they watched every last one of those monsters disappeared amongst the trees in all directions, until it was likeminiflans had never been there to begin with; all but for the small exceptions of those few dedicated admirers of Noel, who needed a little more persuasion on Mog's part before they could be convinced into leaving well.

Serah was lost for words. He had really outdone himself.

"Nice job, Mog," Noel said once it was just the three of them left on that large branch alone. "Looks like Lightning was right, you are a good luck charm."

The moogle giggled flattered, though Serah couldn't relax; her hand still to clinging to the arm of her friend in fear of the repercussion that might come. "You're certain they're gone, right? I mean, they've not left to call for reinforcements or anything like that?"

Mog flew in closer, calming her concerns. "The miniflans won't bother you anymore. I made sure of it, kupo."

Serah blinked, "Really? How come?"

"Yeah, what _exactly_ did you say to them?" Noel asked warily.

Mog giggled the way he often did when high on the dreams of fortune and planning moogle-like schemes; the cunning sort Serah wasn't particular a fan of. "Oh nothing, kupo."

"That didn't sound like nothing," Noel said somewhat more dubiously. "Well, come on out with it. This isn't the time to be keeping secrets."

And with that the moogle finally submitted, letting out another mischievous giggle as he pointed his staff between the two humans with the answer.

"I told them that you and Serah weren't available, because the two of you had already procreated, kupo!"

…

This day, it was going from bad to worse.

* * *

><p>It became a bad force of habit for some time afterwards, diving close to Noel whenever they saw a miniflan. Thankfully none tried to hassle them anymore, but there was always the occasional dreamy look sent their way. And more than once did Serah spot a group of flans watching them from the other trees, all of whom would continue doing so until both she and Noel were out of sight.<p>

And Serah thought Ultros gave her the creeps. After this, she would happily be friends with that crazed octopus any day. Still, she wasn't pleased about Mog's lie, even if it had saved the three some grief. "Why did you have to tell the miniflans we were _mates_?"

Mog hummed nervously, sensing her unhappiness. "You said say anything, kupo."

"Anything but_ that!_" Serah shouted louder than she meant, causing the moogle to frightfully jump. "You could've told them anything, but you had to say that. I can't believe you, Mog."

"Kupo..."

"I don't see what the problem is. They're just flans, Serah. It's nothing to get worked up over," Noel said, far much relaxed than she was. Not surprising, since Noel had found the whole thing hilarious when Mog had first broken the news to them, but he had long since mellowed out. "Besides, we've been mistaken for a couple plenty of times in the past. How is it different now?"

Serah stared stubbornly down at her feet as she let the subject slide. "Because it just is..."

The deeper their travels took them into Sunleth, the grander the trees around them became in size and beauty; their treetops reaching to the spectacular heights of skyscrapers like those to be found in Academia, leaving Serah feel tiny in comparison, as if they were mere insects to the rest of the world. The large branches themselves were more twisted here, bending this way and that around each other; despite it, the branches were relatively an easy climb now, being that they were more closed together, and their size meant neither she or Noel had to worry so much on falling.

Silly as it was, Serah's mind had found less important things to trouble herself with because of this, that instead of keeping a good look out, Serah's focus had wandered to her hair that she quickly became distracted in rearranging to the front of her.

Without anything to tie it up with, the pink ringlets of her longer locks fell past her shoulders, that up until this point she'd had flowing freely down her back. But now Serah was bringing those long curls forward in the hope of covering some of her upper region and regaining some modesty. It worked, just _barely_, but it would've been a lot easier if she had more to work with.

Suddenly Serah regretted perming her ponytail the few days before they had left New Bodhum; that, and not taking Lebreau's suggestion to let her hair grow out.

The sooner they got their clothes back, the better.

"Noel, why do you think this happened; us winding up here instead of in Valhalla?" Serah asked after a while. She tugged one curly lock of hair all the way down passed her chest, only to grimace when it sprang back up again. "Time Gates aren't supposed to behave this way, are they? We've never lost anything before, so why now?"

"You've got me on that one," Noel replied as he moved from one massive branch to the other; always waiting for her before he leapt to the next. "I've only used the gates one other time before we met. I'm just as new to this as you are."

"Oh," Serah hesitated as the ancient branch creaked beneath her feet. She watched it a few seconds, unsure before leaping over to join him and edged slowly on. "But I thought you said you knew everything about them, the gates."

"I do," Noel said to her, minding his way along the wispy trail they were making through the trees, "but knowing how to use something to how it works are two separate things. Say those computers in the Augusta Tower for example. You operated them well, but if they broke would you know how to fix them?"

Serah thought of Maqui, who'd always been such an expert on repairing machinery. He knew everything about anything, right down to their very components. That's why if something broke or needed to be built from scratch, Maqui was their man for the job. But if they were to run that by someone less experienced, it was possible they wouldn't have a clue about any of it.

She and Noel were those inexperienced people. Yet even Mog who was the Maqui of the group when it came to the gates; time rifts and all unusual disturbances, didn't have any answers as to why the had done did what it had to bring them here.

Serah wrung her hands, nodding in acknowledgement, "So, you're saying when we went through the Time Gate there was some sort of software glitch that caused all this to happen?"

She only noticed Noel had stopped walking when the back calves of his legs crept into her line of vision. In doing so, Serah stopped as well; quick to avert her gaze before she saw anything sensitive.

Noel sighed. "No, somehow I don't think that's it."

Abandoning all previous inhibition to her sight, Serah looked back at her friend, her eyes trained above his waist. "Wait, what do you mean by that? Are you saying this wasn't an _accident_?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Time Gates are only portals, nothing more, nothing less," Noel said with great uneasy, the muscles in his back flexing as he crossed both arms over his chest. "Maybe you're right; maybe they can mess up and transport individuals and their possessions all over the timeline. But then if that's the case, why aren't we able to use our magic? A glitchy gate shouldn't be able to tamper with something like that."

Magic was the very first thing Serah had suggested to Noel as a substitute for his swords on fending off the monsters in the forest. However try as he did, Noel couldn't invoke a single spell, and Serah had soon realized that she couldn't either. It wasn't as if they'd forgotten how, Serah still had those years of study and practice written to memory; rather, it felt like a mental block prevented the spells from being cast. She would feel energy build, but would die before she could cause even a spark.

The glitchy gate; their magic; none of it added up, or did it?

"Perhaps it's a paradox of some sort, maybe not just one, but an entire web of them criss-crossing over the other, and we got caught right in the middle of them," Serah suggested, intertwining her fingers together to demonstrate to Mog, who kupo'd intrigued.

"I want to believe that myself, but something doesn't feel right, not about any of this. It reeks of foul play, like we've been dropped in this era on purpose," Noel said. His arms uncoiled, he raised a hand in front of him, attempting to cast a simple Fire spell. Even with the greatest of concentration, barely a flame formed even strong enough light a candle. All Serah saw was a tiny glimmer of light in his palm, and that was it.

Noel flexed his fingers, his face untensing as he allowed his arm to drop. "None of this can be a mere coincidence."

"A trap," Serah said. "That's what you're saying. We've fallen into a trap."

"I think so, yes," Noel answered, speaking somewhat ominous as he sunk into his thoughts. "Which begs the question, was the gate in Academia ever meant to take us to Valhalla to begin with? What if the gate was always intended to lead us here?"

Back in Academia they had seen Valhalla in the gate's swirling core. Every Time Gate worked in this same way, giving off images of the era they connected to, as if peering through a window to what was on the other side. That was how they had known that the gate would take them to Valhalla, and they had been so sure of that in themselves! Even their journey through the Historia Crux went by without any hitches, so what happened? What went wrong to bring them standing here in Sunleth Waterscape, rather than by her sister's side?

Serah gaze down at where her hands were still grasped together, studying at how her fingers were interlocked like the bars of a prison.

"Caius…if he knew we were going to Valhalla, could he have tampered with the gate to try to stop us?" she asked.

"I wouldn't put it past him to set a trap for us, but this?" Noel shook his head, exhaling. "No, that's not the kind of man Caius is. Cunning he might be; a trickster he's not. If to disarm us was his plan, he wouldn't have gone this way about it. That I'm sure."

Serah recalled their visit to Oerba when she first met the man who had fought Lightning in her dreams. She'd wanted to keep believing he was just that, a dream and nothing else. But then there Caius was in the flesh, appearing just as Noel did the night the meteor hit. They had fought him head on, giving it everything they had, but Caius over powered them. He'd used her inexperience as a fighter and Noel's guardian instincts to his advantage, putting them both at his very mercy. If it hadn't been for Yeul's intervention, they might have lost their lives that day.

Still, the fact remained that Caius could strike them down anytime and anyplace he wanted, and he didn't need trickery to do it. And yet, Serah's skin crawled at the slightest chance that he could be watching them right now from somewhere in Sunleth, or another time. But it was from these troubled thoughts, that Serah recalled the Seeress.

"What about Yeul?" She asked slowly. "Could she be behind any of this?"

"..."

"Noel?"

Hesitating Serah brought herself to once again look at the young man. His head was slanted to one side, those piercing blue eyes frozen on the segments of the crystal pillar poking out from the trees to their far left; each stem sculpted like the very branches they'd formed in amongst.

Noel's expression was distant, as though he wasn't really there at all. But not far beneath the surface, Serah could see he was troubled by a deep sadness that was drowning him, slowly.

She had seen that look before...

"Noel?" Serah called again, and like that, her friend snapped back into reality, eyes blinking as the light returned in them. And hastily, Noel turned away.

"No…I don't think she's capable of that; not my Yeul, or any other reincarnation of her. It's not in their nature," Noel said, the strong belief in his voice almost undeniable as the pain. "My memories of the future might be going hazy, but I know her, Serah. Yeul wouldn't do something like this, and neither would the others. It would make no sense for her to throw us through a loop by sending us here."

In all, they had encountered four versions of the Seeresses, Yeul; the girl who was reborn over and over with the gift to see the timeline. There was the Yeul they had met in Oerba and atop the Augusta tower; the Yeul they met in the ruins of Yaschas Massif and one within the Ruby of Grief…and then the Yeul of the doomed time of Academia, who had died in Noel's arms.

It was the memories of that particular Yeul that still haunted Serah to this day, of seeing that poor girl lying in the street of that massacred city. Her beautiful oval-shaped face had been twisted in so much pain from the gaping hole in her stomach that was soaking her clothes red with the rain. And yet, even as the life was bleeding out of her, Yeul had still tried to hand over that artefact to them that she'd been clinging to desperately; ordering for them to take it and leave her.

But Noel, he had refused to listen. Instead his hands pressed down on her stomach, quick to become stained in the young girl's blood as he'd cast cure spell after cure spell on her body. Serah had quickly joined him, pouring her own healing magic into the wound, praying that their combined efforts would make a miracle happen. But that miracle never came. The Yeul's injuries were just too grave, that no amount of magic or pressure applied stopped the flow of blood seeping out from between their fingers. Her body just wouldn't mend.

In the end, it'd been Seeress's fragile plead that had ceased their in vain attempts to save her.

'_Please stop...'_

Long after she had slipped away, Noel had continued to cradle Yeul's lifeless body to him while the rain fell heavy and unmerciful as the night around them, now silent of the screams as Cie'ths wandered that city filled with the dead. Only when Serah had leaned over and touched Noel's arm, telling him that they needed to go, did he at last leave the Seeress's side. But for days afterwards in moments of weakness when he hadn't suspected anyone was watching, Serah seen him burdened with that lost look in his eyes, as if his whole world had been tore, apart all over again.

Maybe Noel was struggling to remember the fate of the Yeul he had grown up, but the death of the Seeress in Academia had awakened something in him; the pain from the echo of a memory, that when Noel had held that incarnation of Yeul in his arms, Serah knew it was the love for the Yeul he had lost from his time that kept him from letting go.

For a person to lose someone they loved, nobody deserved that.

"Noel, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

The young man held up his hand, shaking his head. "It's fine. You were only trying to only rule out-"

"No it's not, don't say that! Yeul has only ever been trying to help us. She wants us to save the future and the past. She told us that herself," Serah argued, grasping at her hands tightly. "I shouldn't have thought wrongly of her, not when she's so important to you."

Noel's body moved then, as if he were about to turn and to face her, until the reminder of his oath to her made him stop. Apprehending himself for nearly stepping out of line, he quickly found his place again. "Serah I…"

When Noel first arrived in New Bodhum, Serah had been distrustful of him. Even with her dreams of him meeting her sister in Valhalla still clear in her mind, Serah was sceptical, unsure whether or not that dream itself was a lie placed there somehow by Noel himself to deceive her into coming with him. He was just a stranger then; a man who had stepped out of nowhere claiming to know Lightning, and having nothing but his word that any of it was true. Only after Noel had brought her to the meteorite, revealing the Time Gate dwelling inside it with her touch, had Serah's doubt begun to waver; slipping more as their search around New Bodhum caused them to find the artefact in her mirror the very next day.

It was outside the NORA house, when Noel had told her of the world he came from and the future he wished to rebuild, that Serah was finally able to believe him, because a stranger he might've been, no one would've spoken with such earnestness to change things for the better unless they meant it, and he did. Serah hadn't needed proof. Noel's word was finally enough to convince her of that.

Serah promised herself that day they set out on their journey, that she would never make that same mistake about anybody again. But was the thing about being human, in that no matter how a person strived for it, nobody was perfect.

Looking at her fellow time traveller, an emotion stirred within Serah then with the need to console him more than anything; the instinct so strong, Serah had reached for the back of Noel's shoulder, ready to let him know she was there for him and that she was sorry.

Her fingers barely grazed his warm skin before she fell short.

_'Something's changed, hasn't it Serah?'_

She pulled away, her heart pounding against her ribcage like a drum as she struggled to breathe. And suddenly conscious of how close they were, Serah moved back, rushing to gather her thoughts and compose herself again.

"It was wrong of me, Noel. I never should have said it." She croaked, gazing down at her hand as if it were no longer her own, and she squeezed it. "I'm sorry..."

Seconds passed by with nothing. And then like that, she heard Noel release the breath she hadn't been aware that he was even holding onto.

"I told you, you don't have to apologize. I'm not one to hold grudges, especially with you, Serah," he said in a voice that was soft just as it was sincere. "Far as I'm concerned there isn't a problem, so don't let it get to you."

Serah bowed her head, relieved. "Okay."

"Good," Noel said, pausing, before he added somewhat smug. "You can be really righteous sometimes, you know that?

"What, and that's a bad thing?" she asked.

Noel breathed through his nostrils, suppressing a laugh. And when he turned his head, Serah could see that he was smiling again. "No, I guess it's not."

This wasn't the best of circumstances they could find themselves in, but at least they were all together. If Noel and Mog weren't with her, Serah would've been more frightened on her own, that was for sure. An unusual bunch the three were, at the end of all, they were still a team; a living paradox bound together by fate. When times got tough, they reminded her of what they were fighting for, a future where everyone could be happy. These new friends of hers were her strength, and together Serah knew they could pull through anything.

That was why she couldn't let her emotions get in the way…

Roughly Noel cleared his throat. "We should get moving. We can't afford to waste any more time."

"Right,"" Serah nodded, releasing the hand she had held clench in front of her, and was shocked to find she had drawn blood; the skin broken on her palm from where her nails had cut into them, and deep.

"Kupo?"

Startled, Serah glanced to her side to find Mog floating there as he had been the whole time. He was staring at her peculiarly, making her feel like she was being ridiculed. But Mog had looked worried as well, and it had shown in the way he had glanced down at her hand, letting out a second, but sadder sounding kupo.

In the instance he'd looked, Serah had closed her hand shut, avoiding his prying eyes as she hurried to catch up with Noel. The wary moogle hung back, before he eventually followed suite too.

"Anyway," Noel said some minutes after a while as they looked across at the intricate pathways of branches leading higher into the trees, and hopefully to their destination. "I think Yeul is bit too mature to be pulling practical jokes like these, don't you?"

"Yeah, you're probably right." Serah said, smiling at his attempts to lighten the mood. Nevertheless, she couldn't shake off the feeling things weren't as they seemed; because even after what was said and done, Serah still harboured some doubts of the Seeress and her immortal guardian. And just as Noel knew her, Serah knew him; enough to be able to tell that he was having some of those same doubts as well.

If this wasn't an accident, then why were they here?


	3. Training

A/N: One must remember that when writing about FFXIII-2, it is not about two people going on a journey, but three. Serah and Noel may be the focus at times, but so is Mog a part of their team. They function together and without that moogle and his kupo's, their ensemble would not be the same…except if Noel and Serah are having an intimate moment, then he's excused.

I apologize for the long delay. Life has been a roller coaster lately and I've little time focus on anything. So to make up for it I'm giving you this flashback themed chapter. Consider it a set up for what's to come.

Again, I thank you for your kind words ^^ you've all really been of great support to me.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Adam &amp; Eve<em>**

_Chapter 3 – Training_

* * *

><p><em>Whenever Serah thought of Lightning and all the brave things she'd done, it gave her a sense of courage…and at the same time, loss for what she no longer had.<em>

_Through the passing of both their parents, Lightning had been the one to keep them going. Her sister had taken charge; always looking out for her; giving words of wisdom and scolding her whenever she did wrong. In some ways, Lightning wasn't just a sister; she became a mother, one Serah could confide in, even if they didn't always see eye-to-eye. Serah had never told Lightning of that, in fear her sister wouldn't have taken such a compliment well. But if given the chance again, Serah would've, at the very least to let her know how much she cared for her._

_That was why after the fall of Cocoon, Serah decided she wanted to become stronger just like her sister. She was tired, sick and tired of having to rely on others, to be powerless to save anybody let alone herself. It had been her that'd gotten Lightning and the others in that mess, her that'd caused to The Purge. Serah wanted to make amends and atone._

_So for three years she trained with those at NORA, improving her skills with magic and practicing the archery Lightning had taught her from a young age. She had even taken up some self-defense classes from Gadot as well, learning every single technique her friend showed her and putting it to muscle memory. Serah was preparing herself, for what she didn't know. It was simply something she had to do, if anything just to take her mind off the empty void in her life Lightning and Snow had yet to fill again. But there was one thing Serah hadn't trained herself for, and it was real life combat._

_That night she woke in New Bodhum had been like waking into a nightmare. Running outside to find her friends and everyone else in town being attacked by monsters she had never seen just before in her dream of Lightning which had nearly given her heart attack at the sight of them. It'd been a war zone, and she was smack bam in the middle of it. She should've run inside, retrieved the bow and arrows from her closet and gone to help the others. But Serah was unable to move, frozen by fear at what was happening before her very eyes, that not even Lebreau had been unable to snap her out of it. At the face of death, Serah had panicked._

_Then Noel had entered the scene. He'd ordered her up, handing her the bow that'd felt destined to her, long before she could convince herself it was the good luck charm sent from Lightning; the moogle from her dream. And with those stranger's words to never lay down and wait to die, Serah was somehow given to strength to stand and fend off those monsters terrorizing the town that night. It had been that way for every other monster Serah had fought since, that eventually there was no hesitation, just action. She had become a fighter._

_It was some way not far down the line after they started out on their journey to reach Valhalla, when Noel brought up the suggestion of giving her sparring lessons. He'd said he was impressed by how well she handled a bow; that he'd even gone as far as to say her skills of archery surpassed his own. Yet when it came down to it, Serah had no experience in using a sword, something of which she didn't realize Mog could even transform into, not until the moogle had shown her._

_"Bows are exceptional weapons for battle, so long as you keep your distance from your opponent," Noel had explained, tapping the sword in her hands. "In close quarters however, you'd be surprised how easily they become useless. That's why you can't rely on Mog to stay as one all the time. You need to be diverse and adapt."_

_"But Noel, I'm not like my sister. I've never used a sword before," Serah told him, gazing down helplessly at Mog as he transformed back into his moogle form. "How am I supposed to learn to use one when I don't know how…?"_

_And with a grin, Noel had a pointed a thumb confidently at his chest. "That's, what I'm here for."_

* * *

><p><em>From then on, that was when the training <strong>really<strong> started. Compared to Noel, Gadot's defense classes had been amateur and prepared her little for what the next-in-line Guardian had in store for her. Each day, whenever they could spare time aside from their quest, they fought one-on-one. Serah had been used to seeing members at NORA use paintball guns for target practice or training with wooden sticks in place of swords. She'd been expecting more or less the same treatment when it came to her training as well. Noel however, had no intention of her learning that way._

_"Isn't that dangerous, using real weapons I mean?" Serah nervously asked, watching the young man as he unsheathed his swords, stabbing the largest one into the dirt, while taking a practice swing at the air with the other. "I know we have magic Noel, but we could get seriously hurt doing this!"_

_"That's true; if we weren't careful, one of us could go losing a limb or our lives. I'm sure a few arrogant warriors have," Noel said with in an amused voice._

_Serah scowled. "Then why?"_

_"Because there's only so much you can learn from using a wooden sword. Trust me, when the real deal is coming at you there's a difference. You don't perceive things the same way." Noel had smiled at her then. "There's no need to look so skittish, we're not the reckless, not with the trick Mog has up his sleeve."_

_"A trick?"_

_And then he'd shown her, or rather they both had. Waving his staff, Mog had cast a spell over the katana sword Noel held out to him; the weapon gleaming gold in the light of the setting sun with the mysterious magic charms Mog worked on it. Once the moogle was done, Noel had raised one arm, and before could Serah stop him, he'd sliced the blade across his skin. But she'd had no need to fear, for when he'd shown her his arm; she saw no blood. The flesh hadn't even been broken._

_"See?"_

_Serah had breathed easy then, but not before quickly shooting him a look. "W-Well...you could've just said. You didn't have to scare me like that. I would've taken your word for it."_

_"You say that now, but what about later?" Noel raised a brow at her, cocking his head. "Part of you still would've doubted it. It was better you see it for yourself."_

_Serah said nothing back, knowing full well that he'd been right._

* * *

><p><em>So that was the way of things. Noel became her mentor. He showed her the correct way to hold a sword, how to block and how to strike effectively. Everything he himself had been taught through the years, he passed down onto her. And Serah did her best to follow it. But it wasn't easy, it never was.<em>

_Even with Noel fighting with one sword to even out the odds, he was certainly no push-over. For the first few lessons he'd taken things easy with her, allowing the minor mishap here and there as so to let her become more accustomed to this new way of fighting. But the challenge greatly increased the more she progressed; each fight becoming more exhausting than the last as Noel held less and less restraint on her._

_It was like a game of chess. Just as Serah started to think she was gaining the upper hand, Noel would surprise her with a swift and sudden attack that would knock her to the ground. In the end they weren't just sparring sessions of learning how to do this and how to do that, they'd become brutal one-on-one duels, that if it weren't for a cure spell or two at the end of each match, both would still carry the scars today to prove just how brutal they were._

_Though Noel had assured she was a fast learner and had picked up plenty in the short time he'd had to teach her, for Serah, she never felt that same way. Perhaps it was because she'd always thought of her sister in those moments of defeat, that she might never reach the level of skill of which Lightning could wield a sword so easily._

_Serah once confessed this to Noel while they'd been sharing a room at an inn once; one Serah remember well, for the receptionist who had given them the shifty eye as to why the pair were renting a room in the middle of the day. But that was what time travelling did, it threw their body clocks out of sync that often when they wanted to sleep, sunlight would be blazing unwelcomingly through the curtains, as it had that summer's day._

_"You should have more confidence in yourself. You're better than you take credit for."_

_Serah had looked across from where she was tucked in bed with the snoring Mog, who'd remained snuggled up asleep beside her. Noel had been lying on the second of the twin beds; his shoes; hip pouch and hunting knife resting on the nearby table with his swords and some of her own belongings as well. He'd opted to go without sheets, saying it was too hot for him, even though the window had been wide open and the electric fan breathed cool air down onto them from the ceiling. But Serah just put to down to him being toughened to life on the outdoors._

_"I know that, but..."_

_"No buts. You're doing great, Serah. Don't doubt yourself," Noel had told her, his focus remaining steady on the fan above them. "Listen, no matter how good you get at something, there will always be others who are better or less skilled than you. Maybe you won't ever be as good as your sister, but being outmatched isn't a reason to quit. It's what you do with the talents that you have that's important."_

_Serah had chewed on her lip, eyelids flickering when Mog bobble fell woozily over her eyes, blinding her with its pinky glow. "And you really believe in that?"_

_"Yes, I do," having tucked his arms behind his head on the pillow, Noel had then glanced her way, a warm smile on his lips. "So don't you go waving the white flag on me, and no more doubts. We wouldn't want you losing your reputation with your students now would we, Meanie Miss Farron."_

_And on hearing the old nickname from her class, Serah had snatched one of her gloves resting on the side table and had flung it at the young man, disappointed when he was able to catch it with ease. But Serah had soon wiped that smug grin off Noel's face when she'd sprung out of bed; waking poor Mog as she'd ripped the pillow out from under the moogle's head and proceeded to smack Noel with it to no end._

_"Don't! Call! Me! That!"_

_Noel had quite hastily begged for forgiveness, though it would've done Serah a whole lot of good if he hadn't been laughing the entire time, and made her want to do the same. But she'd still felt a lot better afterwards...sort of  
><em>

* * *

><p><em>She'd taken Noel's advice from that day, and persevered with her training because of it. Every time she had lost only motivated her to get stronger. But it was tough work. Noel was always the victor, always the one who had the advantage and it'd frustrated her. Vanity had nothing to do with it. Noel was a skilled swordsman and it showed, but Serah was convinced that if she ever wanted to be strong enough, she had to able to beat him or what hope would she have up against someone like Caius?<em>

_Serah had thought that if she could win in a fair fight with Noel, then she would know she was ready. At least, that's what she'd intended, until Noel had surprised her one particular day during their training, when he'd done something he never had before._

_Noel kicked her._

_And it hadn't been any light kick, it'd been brutal and hard that when his foot had connected with her knee, Serah had felt something go with a loud, and very painful crack. She had fallen instantly, crying out as she'd clutched her knee that'd hurt too much to even move. They had dropped everything then, the battle over as Noel had come to her aid, throwing her arm over his shoulders and leading her over to the nearest boulder for treatment. Although he'd avoided asking if she was alright, either because it was obvious that she wasn't, or he hadn't wanted to run the risk of being shouted at by someone as strict as her._

_"You need to keep your eyes on that of your opponent, at all times," Noel reminded her from where he'd sat crouched by her leg, while he'd worked away at healing on her swelling knee. "If you don't, you're leaving yourself open for attack. You have to remember that, Serah."_

_"I know," Serah had said as she'd grumbly toyed with the straps of the shoe she'd held on her lap, along with one of her pink stockings, which Mog had struck Noel with his staff for when the young man had tried to remove it himself. Apparently the moogle had mistaken him for being up to no good, but Serah was too angry and annoyed at the time to defend Noel on the matter._

_"But that doesn't change anything," Serah said, starting to feel the pain go in her knee. "You were still cheating, Noel."_

_Noel's touch on her leg softened, though his voice remained just as adamant. "In battle, anything goes. It's something you learn. Cheating's got nothing to do with it. It's just the way of things."_

_"That's still not exactly fair," Serah had sulked, causing Noel to pause in the midst of healing her knee; his warms hands still pressed to her tender skin._

_"No such thing exists, Serah. In a tournament maybe, but not out here, not in the real world. When the other person is trying to kill you, there are no rules," Noel had looked at her then like a hardened warrior. "Remember how Caius kept attacking just you? If he'd wanted to play fair, he'd of fought us equally, but he went for you and almost completely ignored me, because you weren't as skilled in close combat then as you are now. If your friends were there, if he'd of attack them too if it meant winning. It's how he works, striking the weakest links he can find in the chain in the hope of breaking the whole thing apart."  
><em>

_During the time they were held prisoner by the army and were threatened by accusations of summoning Atlas, Serah had remembered Noel told her smiling usually helped…but why? Serah had thought nothing of it, until there and then Noel made her question such a tactic and what he meant by there being no rules in battle. In a dying world where sociality was broken down, what had Noel needed to do in order to survive that harsh life? Part of Serah had been too scared to ask, because the remorseful look she'd seen in Noel eyes spoke too much._

_"What the matter?"_

_She'd been staring at him too long and he'd noticed. But Serah was quick to have brushed it off._

_"Nothing…I, I just a little feel bad you're always the one giving me advice and not me to you," she'd said with both with a lie and a truth, pinching less at the fibers of her glove as the pain in her knee diminished. "It's...I'm a teacher, Noel. I should be the one helping you. But I always feel like I'm the one getting us into trouble, like with Caius..."_

_"You're not. I've messed up plenty of times before if you haven't noticed. Anyway, you taught me how to pull off these spells, didn't you? I'd of never of figured any of that out on my own" Noel had told her, in reminder of all the times they'd spent by the campfire casting Fire spells into the flames, the first Black Mage spell Noel learnt._

_"Yeah, I guess I did, didn't I," Serah said managing a smile, having pictured in her mind the confused looks and awkward head scratching from Noel each time she'd told him to focus on his inner crystal when creating spells. Of course he couldn't understand it that easily, only fellow l'Cie like Snow would've known what she'd meant. Noel still managed it though; tapping into that power from within. Not a crystal, he'd said, but something from the spirit. Maybe that was where she got her inner strength too, in the soul._

_"But, only being able to cast Fire and Cure isn't exactly something to brag about, Noel." Serah'd noted, pointing a finger a him. "You need more homework mister."_

_"Well then, we better get studying," Noel had laughed, his hands gently releasing themselves from her knee a moment later. "Better?"_

_Having tested her leg, Serah was been pleased to have found that the joint hurt no more and could bend it just fine. A big relief._

_"Yes, thank you."_

_Once Serah had slipped her stocking back on and strapped up her shoe, she'd walked with ease over to join Noel. With Mog once again a sword in her hands, she'd watched as he'd regained his stance, readying the golden __gladius blade as his voice commanded her like that of the fighter he was._

_"Again."_

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><p><em>What Noel said that day never went away; it only empowered Serah's to get better.<em>

_If playing fair wasn't needed, then she had to exploit Noel's weakness, whatever that might be. For this reason, Serah had begun studying Noel's battle technic, even when they weren't sparring. But truth be told, Serah wasn't that sure on what to look for. The way Noel moved was like a dancer, who was in complete control of every part of his body. If he stumbled, if he fell, Noel was up again in near to no time at all. He didn't tire easily, that wearing him down before Serah's own energy was expelled was impossible; along with his agility and sharp reflexes, it was no wonder he'd been chosen as a guardian._

_The only advantage Serah had was her size. Being small as she was, it'd been easier to dodge Noel's attacks, often allowing her to duck or jump out of the way, but it did little to give her the upper-hand, leaving her at a loss on how to win. Surely nobody could be that invincible. Even for someone like Caius, he couldn't win all the time. In all those years she'd watched Lightning train with fellow soldiers in the Guardian Corp, her sister had lost her fair share of battles. Noel had to have a weakness; like any human being Noel had to capable of slipping up._

_It was in Archylte Stepp when the sun burned down heavy onto Pulse, where she and Noel had sparred amongst the small islands amidst that waterhole, that Serah discovered it that weakness._

_Sparks had exploded as their swords' clashed and locked with one another. It had been a battle of strength, both fighters holding each other's ground, with each determined to overthrow the other. But it was a battle Serah quickly was losing to. Mere seconds was Noel away from overpowering her, when she finally saw his greatest flaw._

_Noel could be aggressive when he wanted to, use any sort of trickery to gain an advantage, but what Noel couldn't do was play dirty. His loyalty and respect for friends and others made him incapable of it. Her on the other hand..._

_In battle as Noel had said, anything went.  
><em>

_There were no rules._

_And Serah did it. With all the strength she had left to give, she'd forced herself forward with a fierce cry, brought her knee up right into the young man's groin._

_"Oof!"_

_Noel dropped like a rock._

_Both bowsword and ___gladius blade_ were sent flying as the two went falling into the water with a grand splash, spraying waves of crystal droplets everywhere. Serah had collapsed right on top of the winded Noel, saving her from the full shock the cold water gave her legs, but she hadn't been one to stop there. With the adrenaline rush still in her veins, she'd straddled Noel's waist while he'd laid wheezy of breath, and had whipped out the hunter's knife from behind his belt beneath the water, pressing the blade directly to his throat._

_"No Serah stop! It's not protected kupopopo!" Mog cried out in a panic as he'd bolted over to them, tugging at her pink ponytail to no avail. "Stop! Stop! Kupo! Stop! Stop!"_

_But Serah hadn't let up. She'd remained there pinning Noel down in the sweltering heat that left them dripping in sweat; the blade poised at his neck as if her life had depended on it; as if Noel was not a friend, but a foe, that only in seeing the thin trail of blood to weep down his skin from the knife had Serah stopped._

_For once, she had been the one in control, and Serah realized only then in Noel's defeat, that was **exactly** what he'd been trying to bring out of her all along; the warrior inside her who could rise up and take control of her own fate.  
><em>

_Through the wrenching pain in a certian region that'd made it a struggle for him to breathe, and despite having the inconvenience of being held at knifepoint, Noel somehow managed to grace her with a smile from where he'd laid in the water. With his Adam's apple bobbing nervously as he'd gulp, and raised his hands from the water; droplets streaming down his arms as Noel held them up in surrender._

_"You got me."_

_It'd been enough to free her from that desperate fighting frame of mind. She'd pulled back, knife dropping into the lake beside Noel's head. But instead of apologizing to him a thousand times over; instead of rushing to heal the laceration on his neck, Serah…she'd started laughing. She must've looked like some lunatic, sitting there on top of him with giggles racking through her, that at times no sound would come out at all. But surprisingly it'd seemed, Serah was not the only lunatic, for Noel had soon joined her and the two of them filled the waterhole and the mountains of Archylte Stepp with their __hysterical laughter._

_"You two are strange, kupo..."_

_And Mog was right._

* * *

><p><em>Three years ago before the fall of Cocoon, there were many things Serah hadn't been able to do that she could now. From Lightning; Snow; to team NORA and Noel too, they had all taught Serah a valuable lesson; to never give up hope. Her friends were her family, and they made her who she was, made her grow into a stronger person. She could never thank them enough for that, never.<em>

_However there was still one thing Serah had yet to overcome, and that only became apparent during their long task of finding the labyrinths in the ghost town of Oerba 300AF, when she and Mog had become seperated from Noel in the middle of that raging sandstorm._

_With grains of sand spraying in their eyes and the winds howling in their ears, it'd been difficult for her and Mog to see or hear each other. They must've gone around looking for almost an hour, battling their way through the storm in their search of Noel who'd probably been doing the same thing. Serah had been on the very verge of heading back to one of the gates to wait for him, in case Noel happened to walk by...when through the thick clouds of sand surging through the town, she'd seen a figure in the distance; a man, staggering slow and uneasy on his feet._

_Immediately Serah went running, calling out Noel's name for fear it was him who was injured. But she'd soon stopped, Mog too, when they'd realized it wasn't him, that it couldn't possibly be him._

_It'd been a Ghoul Cie'th._

_On cue Mog changed into a bow, and at the ready Serah pulled on back the handle to fire an arrow. Her heart had been pounding, her skin breaking into a feverish sweat at the very sight of the Cie'th stumbling towards her that was blinded by the rage every other l'Cie have failed their focus; what she had nearly become. _

_One shot, that's all Serah needed to end its suffering, one shot…and she couldn't do it. Something had been holding her back._

_The pink jewel on her bow had blinkered frantically from the soul of Mog inside it warning for her to hurry. But by then it was too late. Serah's stalling had allowed the Cie'th to get too close and she'd fallen back as it'd lunged for her, swinging one of its rock encased arms of crippling claws down on her. _

_Serah might've lost her life then, her journey at its end, if not for that familiar javelin to have come whizzing passed over her head; piercing through the brand on the Cie'th's chest as it was thrown back by the impact. _

_It was dead before it'd even hit the ground._

_A hand had landed on her shoulder and instinctively Serah had fought it off, mistaking it for another Cie'th. She had only stopped on realizing that it was only Noel who was knelt beside her; his worried faced studying her as he'd yelled through the winds._

_"Are you alright? Serah are you hurt?"_

_She'd been numb, her fingers dead weights to the bow that slipped from her hands onto her lap as Mog soon took its place. She was mute, her tongue tied when she'd moved her lips, no sound coming out._

_"What happened?" Noel asked her as he'd assisted her up, though Serah had known he'd been referring to the Cie'th, rather than how they'd become separated. It was the same question racing through her own mind that'd left her body cold and empty. Yet Serah had only shook her head, a wave of nausea hitting her stomach when her eyes fell on the body of the Cie'th lying dead in the sand ridden street._

_"I, I-I don't know..."_

* * *

><p><em>But Serah had. Seeing that Cie'th had brought back a terrible memory of her time spent within the Pulse Vestige, when the brand on her arm had burned hot, draining her body of life while she'd struggled to escape hordes of Cie'th chasing her. When Mog transformed into a weapon in Oerba, he became a tool, an object that could give little support.<em>

_That was Serah's greatest weakness; what had scarred her from the pain of losing her parents and what had haunted her the day she had been branded a l'Cie. And then, what had nearly broken her from losing both Lightning and Snow._

_The fear of being alone._

* * *

><p><strong><em>"The point is, I have people I can count on. I'll make it through..."<em>**


	4. Words

A/N: One my most favorite cutscenes for FFXIII-2 were those that took place in The Void Beyond, where Noel and Serah would sit down and talk to each other. There was something almost intimate about those discussions, like they were personal. This chapter, Words, so insanely overdue, is inspired by those talks.

I want to thank you guys for all the support you've given me. And I apologizes this took so long to update. I've written this story through some tough times, and it feels so good to be starting it up again. So truly, thank you so, so much.

And please don't murder me for taking so long XP

* * *

><p><em><strong>Adam &amp; Eve<strong>_

_Chapter 4 – Words_

* * *

><p><em><strong>It wakes from a deep slumber<strong>_

_**Emptiness bellowing within**_

_**Starvation…**_

_**It goes on the prowl again**_

_**Hunting...**_

_**Meat, iT NeEdS mEaT**_

* * *

><p>After hours of climbing the trees, it came as a blessing if from Lightning herself when they managed to find their way onto some higher ground. Smooth narrow mountaintops sprung up across the forest like natural made pathways, with bone thin branches webbed together to form platforms between them. Familiarity whispered everywhere they looked, from the gentle flowing of the small waterfall, to the titan trees themselves.<p>

When their eyes found that giant stork of blue crystal, there was no mistaking what the erosion of time or the growth of the untamed forest could disguise.

Serah could barely contain her excitement.

"Noel, this is it! This is the place!"

They were standing in the very spot in which the giant flan had once sat as ruler. No more it was, for except a few old pools of dried up slime, no traces of a body remained. Only the faint rotten odor to linger in the air hinted something dead once laid there for a time. Smell or not, Serah was just happy to be here; though her happiness was short lived at seeing Noel lacking any such joy. He hadn't even crack a smile. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure," Noel answered vaguely, checking out the forest like a soldier on guard duty. His hand rose, hesitating over his right shoulder, as if he'd been about to unsheathe the swords that were no longer magically bound to his back; an old force of habit that was unwilling to die. "I just...something's not right."

That was enough to make a shiver go up her spine. "What do you mean?"

"Well, just listen…" Noel trailed off, and Serah shared a puzzled look with moogle, before she did as she was asked and listened.

Apart from running water and a light breeze, it was peaceful.

"Listen to what? I can't hear anything."

"_Exactly,_ it's too quiet here," Noel said and it took Serah only a few seconds to realize he was right. It'd never been this quiet in this part of Sunleth Waterscape; not once in all the times and eras they had visited it. Though here they were with not a single bird to be heard, when often the tree tops thrived with their songs. And now Serah thought of it, the last time they'd sighted any monsters were the miniflans some way back and there used to be hundreds, maybe thousands of the critters here during his Royal Ripeness's rain. But now there was only stillness, as if all the sounds on Cocoon had been gathered up into a bottle and locked away as the planet had once been from Pulse.

Life in the forest here, had gone.

"I don't like it kupo!" Mog squeaked, latching himself onto the back of Serah's head like an oversized hair accessory. His jeweled bobble hung over her face to touching point of her nose, the gem glowing no brighter than it had on inspecting it previously.

"Maybe his death scared life away from this place, his Royal Ripeness I mean," Serah dropped her voice to a whisper, worried in case someone or _something_ overheard. "He was a powerful flan. If he died, the monsters might've been spooked."

"So you're saying they took the giant flan's death as an omen of some sort, feared the same fate would befall them, and scrammed?" Noel scratched his chin, admitting a little thoughtful hum. "It's a plausible theory, I guess."

Serah rubbed her arms, glancing at where the younger hunter stood with those deep blue eyes maintaining their focus away from her. His face looked tense. "You don't sound so sure. You're not are you, Noel?"

A sigh.

"No, I'm not," He answered in all honesty. "I'd liked to, I might even have thought the same as you, but…" Noel fell short of his words, sparing a look at forest again, and towards the pillar of blue crystal. His gaze then fell to the ground, where he'd knelt, brushing aside some the thick blades of grass. "Take a look at this."

In small steps, Serah slowly shuffled over, her head weighed heavy from where Mog was still hitching a ride. Doing her best not to get too close to her time travelling friend, she leaned over to see what he was talking about.

Partings in the grass Noel showed her revealed dozens of seedlings, not just in that small patch, but all over the clearing. To any human, the sproutling's might've seemed insignificant, this however was not the same for her and Noel, for they knew straight away those seedlings hadn't been there before during their last visit.

When they had been monsters waiting in line to see his Royal Ripeness, Serah's attention as a miniflan had kept wandering to ground, not from the fear of them being caught out as imposters, no, Serah did so because she was _starving_, and her newly inherited flan instincts were telling her to search for food. As a microchu, Noel had gained those same instincts, and had been gobbling up nearly all the glass and flowers beside her with little to no self-control. But even in the places Noel had picked clean as a Microchu, the grass had grown back and there were more luscious with flowers than it had been before.

The miniflans said it had been many moons ago since his Royal Ripeness died. Serah thought they'd meant a few days at most, but from the looks of things, that wasn't true at all.

"More time's passed than we thought. If the monsters were scared off by the giant flan's untimely death, it shouldn't have been for this long." Noel straightened up, standing at his full height some inches taller than her. "Something else must keeping them away, I'm sure of it."

Further back within the forest from where they had first arrived in this time, there had been a large number of monsters; _strong_ monsters. Apart from the miniflans, they hadn't encountered any of the weak variety of monsters in Sunleth Waterscape.

Was this why?

Serah stepped back, feeling Mog's paws tug at her hair as the moogle shifted position. "But what could do something like that? What would make all the monsters stay away from this place?"

"Hard to tell, I doubt it could've been from what we did as beasts ourselves. Whatever it is, we shouldn't overstay our welcome longer than need be." Noel told her vigilantly with an unbroken courage. "We've got two choices; either we split and get far away from here as soon as possible, or we stick around and see what we can find."

"Hm..."

Time Gates often appeared close to one another through every era. This whole part of Sunleth was like a Time Gate hotspot. Whether Mog's jewel glowed or not, they couldn't leave without checking first…but, if this entire thing was a set up; if this really was a trap set for them, did they really want to go walking into it? Years ago, Serah wouldn't have thought twice about turning right around and going back the way they came. But now, with a mission to save the future and finding her sister again, Serah's feet kept her firmly rooted to the ground.

What would Lightning do, if she were in her place right now? She wouldn't be a coward that's for sure. She would stand and fight the world head-on and not let anything get in her way, not even fear itself.

"I want to stay. We can't go back, there's _nowhere_ to go back to," Gently Serah lifted Mog off her head to where she held him at arm's length. And with an unspoken agreement, the moogle disappeared into a poof of violet smoke, and Serah came to be holding the bow steady in her hands. "After coming all this way, we owe it ourselves and to Lightning to look. So let's not stop now."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," Noel smiled, and lowered his arms down from where he'd had them crossed. "Alright then, but we stay as a team, no wandering off you hear?"

"Yes sir," Serah said with her best interpretation of Academy salute with a twinkle from the gem on her bow confirmed Mog's allegiance, and off the three went to begin their search.

* * *

><p>It was like wandering around a massive graveyard without any gravestones to be seen in sight. The silence was off-putting, more than the fact they stumbled across no other living creatures; not even the tame Enlil, the giant beast that's back they had ridden upon through the long stretches of forest. Only the empty tunnels of those curved trees remained, in which nature was already starting to claim back the ground the monster had once tread.<p>

A sweep of the area came up clean, none of the locations where the Time Gates had previous been were there, and every path and hideaway were just as empty. Deeming it safe enough for Mog to dematerialize out of his weapon form, they called on the moogle for his help. Mog had always been gifted in breaking glamour spells that hid Artefacts; chests and old treasure spheres forgotten over time. If a Time Gate had been hidden in the same way, he would be able to find it.

There was just one problem...

"What's the matter?"

The moogle whined and huffed, spinning around in circles until dizziness made him stop. A faint aura illuminated from his plushie body as he sadly dipped his head, the same time that aura fizzled out.

"I can't do it, kupo," Mog said.

Serah's heart sunk. "What, why not?"

"There must be an anti-magic seal on him too," Noel exclaimed agitated. "Damn, somebody out there must really have it in for us."

"No kidding," Serah said, her body almost collapsing as she sat herself down on the grass where the gate to the mystic coliseum had been. "This can't be happening, it can't."

Mog joined her not long after, flopping over on his back, breathlessly letting out an exhausted kupo. Serah could sympathize. Combined with all the walking and climbing it'd taken them to get here she was exhausted; not to mention dehydration was starting to get a nasty grip on her.

All this effort, and there weren't any gates. She almost felt like crying from the disappointment.

"I wouldn't say this is the first time we've gone around in circles like this," Noel said, showing very little signs of fatigue as he chose to remain standing. A groan sounded from him; the slap of flesh signalling the death of another over friendly mosquito. "Well we can't quit now. We need keep moving while there's still sunlight above us."

"Keep moving? And go where exactly?" Serah asked, rubbing her sore feet.

"This is Cocoon, isn't it?" Noel gestured out an arm at the forest. "Somewhere out there, there must be people still here. I say our best bet is to find the nearest town, gear up and come back when we're better prepared."

"W-Wait, you want us to _leave_ here? We can't do that!" protested Serah, nearly rising to stand, if not for her legs catching clumsily under her and forcing her to sit back down. "What about the gates? We need to find them, or we might not get another chance!"

"At what, Serah?" Noel met back with just as strongly. "So far we've been clutching at straws, led on by only a hunch. We can't afford to keep searching for what might not even exist here anymore, not with the way we are now. It would be reckless to even try-"

"And leaving isn't?" Serah said curtly, tightening her hands from where they rested on her thighs. "Do you even realize how long it'll take us to get out of here, let alone to the nearest town? It could be days before we find anyone, _if _we find anyone. You remember what Hope told us don't you? Most of Cocoon's inhabitances moved down onto Gran Pulse over the centuries, there might be no one left!"

Noel shook his head. "We can't know that for sure. You can't-"

"**Well neither can you!**" Serah shot back loudly, her voice echoing out into the forest, and then, silence...

In all the months spent time traveling together, they had rarely ever argued. There were debates, and on one occasion or the other they had raised their voice to others, but never at one another. And right there and then, Serah felt they'd overstepped some line they didn't know was even there. It was unfamiliar territory; a place they'd never gone to.

Serah bit down on her tongue as she watched Noel paced back and forth on that small stretch of grass, running his hand through his hair to where it laid to rest on the back of his neck. His face remained deep in concentration the whole time, evaluating his next move _very_ carefully.

"It was 400AF when we last spoke with Hope" Noel said, his tone strenuously remaining even. "And we're somewhere around early 300AF correct? That leaves nearly a hundred years or so window between then, and now."

Serah stared uncertain at the young man. "And your point is…?"

"My _point_ is, a lot can happen in a century," Noel finished, tilting his head enough for her to see that his expression was softer than before. "I'm not saying we throw in the towel and go home. We can come back and search for the gates anytime we want. But for now we need to go. If we stay any longer, I can't guarantee our safety."

"Yeah, but…"

Serah's geography of Cocoon wasn't the most accurate, but if memory served her well, the closest place to civilization beyond Sunleth Waterscape was Nautilus; but that in itself was an amusement park rather than a town, and a whole boat ride away. If the plans to evacuate Cocoon had gone long underway, wouldn't that be one of the first places to be abandoned? And all that distance too. There was so much ground to cover just on foot, and then an _ocean_? Serah wasn't sure if they could make it that far.

"We should go, kupo."

"You too Mog?" Serah asked, and the moogle nodded his head from he sat hugging his staff.

"Noel is right, kupo. We need to come back when we are stronger," to make his point, Mog puffed out his chest in an attempt to look brave for her. "Lightning will understand. Live to fight another day, kupo kupo!"

It was true. Even if the gate to Valhalla was to appear before them now, they wouldn't be able to use it. With Mog as their only weapon, banned of their magic and completely naked, there was little they could to do to aid Lightning in her fight against Caius; if anything, they would only get in the way. And Serah remembered too well how their last battle with Caius went, the real Caius. They needed to be at full strength, if more to stand a chance.

"I guess I don't have much of a choice then, do I?"

"There's always a choice." Noel assured her, speaking no lie. With his strength he could have easily tossed her over his shoulder and carried her anywhere against her will, and yet there Noel waited, allowing her to make the choice, rather than making it for her. He was good that way, never having none of the brash stubbornness that came with youth. And though Noel was a little naïve sometimes, he was still wise beyond his years. Incredible to believe she was three years his senior when he acted nowhere near his age.

Just like her and Lightning; he'd been forced to grow up quickly.

"Then can we rest a little before I decide, just for a little?" Serah said, wearily brushing a lock of pink hair from her forehead. "I think need a minute..."

"I don't think this is really the right place to," Noel went to say, stopping midsentence when Serah tucked herself into a ball, making it clear she had no intention getting up anytime soon. A sigh sounded from her friend, humored, though submissive to her demand. "Or we could catch ourselves a short breather, no harm done."

Movement stirred from the side of Serah's vision as Noel strolled over and set himself down a good arm length away beside her. For a while, the three sat there recuperating with nothing but silence as their companion. Tiring of watching Mog fussily clean his crystal bobble, Serah's gaze soon began to be led astray; creeping forth and pulling back one too many times, until Serah turned her head in Noel's vicinity, just enough that she could see him.

He looked so calm sat there, arms rested on his knees from where strong thighs obscured her seeing anything blush worthy. Years of training and hunting were crafted into every muscle on his body, and they didn't look real; _he _didn't look real, like he was the illusion of a fantasy that couldn't exist, but did.

Serah wished he was hideous inside and out instead, that way she wouldn't guilty for staring, and for a lot of other things too...

"What is it?"

She almost jumped in surprise at Noel's voice, immediately hiding her face against her knees like a turtle seeking cover within its shell.

Caught red handed.

"I erm, so…you're really not bothered, Noel?"

"About what, being naked?" he asked forwardly and Serah felt the her cheeks burning.

"Y-Yeah, that."

Casually, Noel shrugged. "Can't say I am really, no."

"Not even a little?"

"No."

"You're serious?"

"Yes."

Serah sneakily peered over at him. "Why?"

"I don't know. I guess when you're one of the only few remaining humans left on the planet, modesty is the last thing you have to worry about," Noel said, rubbing at the back of his neck. He cracked a smile "Not saying we all walked around in the nude, but when each day that comes by might wind up being your last, you tend to focus more on what's important. Having death hang over you with every breath, it has a way of putting things in perspective."

"Oh..."

The barren grey wasteland of a Pulse, the world she had seen in the night skies of New Bodhum at the meteorite crash site. The emptiness, the despair of that place. Serah didn't even want to think about it, what must've been like living in such a time with little certainty for the future.

"I think, I understand…"

"You do?" Noel sounded surprised.

"I-I don't mean, not that I..." Serah hugged her legs, taking a deep breath to calm the trembling of her hands. "When I became a l'Cie, I was the same. Everyday things I would usually do, suddenly, didn't feel so important. I didn't want to eat or sleep, all I could think of was my sister and Snow and how they would cope without me…I was _scared_. Whether I turned into a monster or a crystal, there was no future for me, not one I could see. I was a l'Cie, a threat to Cocoon."

It'd felt a lifetime ago, those nightmarish days in Bodhum, hours spent crying as she'd scratched at the brand on her arm, watching it spread with arrows each day as her time counted down. Too often Serah had thought about ending her life, of wanting to die a human than a monstrous Cie'th. She believed that if she kept everyone she loved away, it would make her passing easier for them. It'd been Snow who had finally gotten through to her, that together they were stronger as people than apart. And for a while, Serah saw light at the end of the tunnel, and that maybe even before her life was over, she and Snow would wed.

PSICOM brought it all back, and sent that dream crashing down. She was torn away from Snow; from her sister and everyone, and was held prisoner in the very same Pulse Vestige to have branded her. The brand on her arm progressed rapidly afterwards, spreading quickly like a cancer and zapping away her energy with every arrow to extend with the opening of that eye. Her demise had been close, that if she had given in, she would easily have become a monster. The only thing to have kept Serah going was the hope of seeing Lightning and Snow one last time, the wish she had pleaded for right up until she passed out from exhaustion.

"That must've been hard on you, you and your friends." Noel said with the sincerest of empathy, after having listened intently to every word she'd said.

"It was…but you know, in the end I realized something. Even if I didn't have a future, my sister and Snow did. Whether I completed my focus or not, I wanted them to be happy, with or without me," Serah looked up through the branches decorated in auburn leafs, where the enclosed globed sky of Cocoon hung above them, _around them_; the sky she and her sister had grown up under. "When I did turn to crystal, instead of dying, they were all I could think about. Through the good and bad dreams, my sister and fiancé, they kept my hopes and dreams alive, that maybe one day I'd wake up and I could live again."

With a sad kupo and the fluttering of wings, the Mog lifted himself up from the ground and floated towards her, his tiny paws clutching at his staff. Serah reached out and scratched the back of his ears, smiling at him gratified.

"It's not the same as what you went through, Noel…but, I can understand what it's like when your world's falling apart."

The grass rustled beneath the young man as he sat more upright; his tone gentle, musing.

"Seems to me, we've more in common than we first thought."

"I guess so," Serah wriggled her toes playfully. "Except, you're not a vegetarian."

"Yeah well, you're not carnivorous yourself," Noel laughed, before rising to his feet. He gave a stretch, pulling out creaks in his neck. "I think we've rested up long enough, don't you?"

"Why the rush? Am I boring you, Mr Noel Kreiss" Serah said teasingly standing as well as she brushed off the blades of grass sticking to her rear and legs. She could almost swear there was a smirk on Noel's lips.

"Far from it."

* * *

><p>Agreeing there was nothing else they could do there, they started to retrace their steps back to the clearing absent of his Royal Ripeness to search for another way out of Sunleth Waterescape. If Serah was right, they needed to head west to reach Nautilus. If they kept going that direction, sooner or later they had to find it. As a substitute, Noel suggested using the sun to find their way. Given the fal'Cie Phoenix no longer functioned as Cocoon's sun, and the position of the sun seen from Grand Pulse altered depending on what part of Cocoon you were on and the time of year, well, it wasn't as easy as reading it when living on Gran Pulse. Fortunately they were saved of any guess work there by having clock on Mog's staff on hand to get an exact time, and Noel's own skills of reading the land to work magic on the rest. Apparently paying attention to where the sun was in sky and what season it was during all their previous visits help to pin it down more accurately.<p>

It made Serah that bit more envious of Noel.

"You should've tried some of it you know."

Swatting a pesky insect from her arm, Serah looked ahead where Noel was leading their small group back through the tunnel of wood of which the Enlil and many a flan had once adventured through. "Tried some of what?"

"The Adamantoise, back in Archylte Stepp." said Noel, keeping an eye out on the cracks in the branches overhead where rays of sunlight seeped through. "Trust me, you're talking to an expert here. Adamantoise is gold to the taste buds. You would've liked it."

"_Like it?_ After seeing that cute thing bounce around the meadow with those big round eyes as it tried to kill us? I'd of felt bad," Serah giggled, only to sigh a while later; the old bark feeling rough like sandpaper against the soles of her feet. "Still, I can't believe they ate it; the villagers."

"What did you think they were going to do with it, keep it for a trophy? Their way of life isn't the same as it is for you and yours friends, Serah. Nothing goes to waste or gets thrown away, likewise in my time." Nearing the end of Eli's abandoned tunnel, they diverted themselves to the curved trunks where glowing fungi grew against them; the same fungi they had used like stairway to get down previously from the higher level.

Noel went first. "Although for their time in Archylte Stepp, food isn't as scarce. And life you could say, is a lot more _lively_. They have it tough, yes, but they manage well."

Serah followed him, never less than three steps behind, and no closer than that. "You really liked it there, didn't you? Archylte Stepp, and the villagers too."

"Yeah, they were good people," Noel paused on one of the fungi before hopping to the next one, seeming happy while he reminisced. "Being there, it reminded me of home when I was child, back when there were still plenty of people in my village, and the vegetables still grew more-or-less. If…when we change the future, that's the future I want for them, one where they have hope."

They'd spent a couple days in Archylte Stepp, trying to figure out what was causing the Paradox back here in Sunleth Waterscape. They had eventually gotten wrapped up in a bunch of monster slaying errands too when helping out the villagers, all of whom became fond of the two time travelers and their moogle. On defeating the Adamantoise that had been destroying the crops and terrorizing the small community, a feast was held in their honor. Food and drinks were served under the light of candles and a crackling bonfire, the sort of the festivities Lebreau and the gang would organize annually to celebrate the completion of New Bodhum.

Serah had loved second of it. The whole night she and Noel had danced around the bonfire with fellow villagers to that whimsical tribal music of drums and flutes, all while Mog was worshipped like a king by the communities' children who had decorated him in handmade jewelry and daisy chains, feeding him as much food as he wanted until his belly was round and full.

On the morning they left, their pant legs wet from dew in the meadow with a faint chill in the fresh air, Noel had taken one long, final look back at the settlement cast in shadows within that valley where the dawn's light had yet to touch. Serah could tell it had been hard for him to walk away from it and continue on with their mission of stopping his Royal Ripeness. He'd been given the taste of a life he longed for not just himself, but for his people too.

He was homesick, and so was she.

"It would be nice life for them, wouldn't it…hey, Noel?"

"Hm?"

"Do you, will you go back? To your time, if you had the chance to after all this is over, would you?"

The young hunter had already hopped from the last fungi onto the broken trunk where Mog awaited. Loyally keeping those piecing blue eyes away from her, Noel crouched, offering a hand down to her. "Unless the future changed for the better, then no, I couldn't. Not with the way things were before."

Serah keep her vision focus solely on his hand as she grabbed it. "What if things weren't, what if it was like Archylte Stepp. Would you then?

Effortlessly Noel pulled her up to join him, as if she were light as a feather.

"Maybe, it depends," he said candidly.

"On what?" Serah asked.

Noel jawed tightened, his face bearing a look that had been there when Serah had once pressed him for answers on Yeul back in The Void Beyond; that look that told her she was digging deeper than he was used to sharing.

Slowly he let go of her hand, stepping away a second after Serah realized how deadly close they'd been standing together.

"_That_…I'm still trying to figure out."

There was something almost lonely about that remark that made Serah want to ask more, but Noel had already turned away to walk on ahead, seemingly not interested in carrying the conversation further. Though Serah, already had a hunch to what had Noel troubled.

Yeul...

Of course, he was her guardian, or next in line to be. He took it all so seriously and he cared for dearly. If they did change the future, more than likely, Noel would choose to stick in his own time and continue being her guardian.

So, why the indecisiveness?

With Mog exchanging clueless kupo at her, both hurried on to keep up with their friend. Before long they were back in the clearing they'd been standing little than an hour before, and still bearing the scent of death from his Royal Highness. There was an eeriness that hung especially heavy here, that had Serah wishing it would be broken by the sound of Snow's motorcycle; for her hero to show up like she kept expecting him to in this place. She would imagine him appearing out of nowhere, hearing his beautiful voice say her name as he'd wrap her in his heavy trench coat. He'd tell her he was wrong, that he didn't mean anything of what he'd said, and everything would just...just…

"Serah, I need to ask you something."

Noel stood there in the sunlight, exposed enough from that angle that Serah's vision burned as she'd hastily shielded her eyes like kid who'd seen the boogie monster. Even after all these hours, the sight of him fully naked was still too much for her, but at least she wasn't whimpering in the corner in a total wreck.

"Uh, sure, what is it Noel?"

He didn't tell her straight away; rather he strayed from her by a few more steps, scratching the back of his hair like he was thinking about something. Noel's lips parted and closed time and time again to speak, yet nothing would come out. The words he would go to say, kept being held back.

It was nearly a minute of watching him like this, Noel finally came out with it.

"What's of greater value to you, fantasy or reality?"

It wasn't what Serah had been anticipating, that the question left her stood there in mute surprise. It was never something Noel had ever asked of her before, or anything like it. He wasn't one to speak in riddles. He was always direct and to the point.

What was he doing?

"Is that a trick question?" Serah studied him carefully, but his gaze remained dead ahead of him, looking stern, if too overly composed.

"It's, whichever way you perceive it," another indirect answer Noel gave her, pushing Serah's suspicions even further. His tone sounded a little was off too, nothing natural about it. But, _why_?

Mog appeared just as in the dark as she was too, yet Noel wasn't giving her any clues.

"Okay…?"

Fantasy and reality, was he referring to her time as a crystal? They did talk about it not long ago. It had to be that, right? So why, why did it sound like she'd _heard_ it somewhere before? Serah was sure it had, somewhere…or maybe she hadn't, maybe it didn't really mean anything at all.

In the end, it was her assumptions that won over doubt.

"Reality, I choose reality." Serah said, lowering her hands from her face.

Noel remained there like a statue against the bright red and amber backdrop of the forest. Shafts of light danced from the slow swaying branches to overhang high above the clearing, as the gust to blow through the trees made every flower and every leaf come alive with movement, as if she, Noel and Mog were inside a living, breathing painting.

And when the breeze settled, he gave a small nod. "Okay."

…

"That's it?" Serah frowned.

"Pretty much," Noel said simply.

"But, what you're not going to tell me why you asked me that?"

Serah spotted the clink in Noel's armor, that moment of weakness he didn't mean to expose. It was there, in the flash of disappointment across his face.

"It doesn't matter. Look, it's nothing. Forget I said anything, Etro knows I shouldn't have," Noel said too hasty, as though eager to sweep it under the rug and be done with it. But Serah couldn't disregard it so easily, and with that nagging feeling in her growing stronger by the second, she became more and more certain there was more to it than Noel was letting on.

And as he turned to walk away from her, the very action itself was a bullet to the brain, triggering a memory.

'_Noel, I hope you don't get yourself killed.'_

_'I can tell the difference between fantasy and-'_

"Wait!"

He stopped.

"That's, that's not what you were asking me, was it?" Serah said, quickly shortening the distance between them bit by bit. "You weren't talking about the dreams I had in crystal. You were talking about something else, about that time in the coliseum."

Noel's head cracked to one side, breathing out a silent breath between his lips; surprise.

She'd guessed right.

"What were you trying to say?" Mind racing and palms sweaty, Serah rushed forward and grabbed onto the young man's arm below the bicep, leaning over from where she now stood close to his side, as if daring him to meet her eyes. "What was it you were really asking me, Noel? _Tell me."_

She was shaking from head to toe, at what she wasn't sure couldn't be true. It couldn't be right? I mean he wasn't, Noel couldn't possibly...

For a second Noel looked like he might actually do it, break his oath and tell her everything he kept hidden like an enigma. And then for some unexplained reason, he suddenly looked sharply in the opposite direction, to the trees. "Quiet…"

"Noel, I'm being serious. Don't ignore-" Serah said, and nearly cried out when the young man spun around and covered her mouth with his callused hand, the other closing firmly around the back of her neck.

"I said shut up and _listen!_" Noel said in a hushed whisper to her ear as she'd panicked. Mog had sprung into action immediately, as he'd raised his staff like a baseball bat and prepared to knock the stuffing out of Noel's skull…that is, when a sound from far off made the moogle halt in mid swing as Serah too ceased her struggles.

It came from somewhere in the forest, a low crunching noise, as if it were a many people walking on a floor littered in broken glass. But the sound was much, _much_ louder and far more colossus; like an entire city of glass coming down, one building at a time.

It was getting louder.

"Down there kupo!" Mog squeaked, pointing his staff at the landmass below them, where the small stems of the pillar holding up cocoon were spread out across the soil like crystalized crops. It was there, a trail of destruction laid waste through them in fragmented pieces reflecting in the sunlight. And it was also there, that Serah caught sight of something moving, a second before it slithered out of sight, not far where the trio stood.

Dark with scales…a tail?

"Go, _now!_" Noel ordered and no sooner had his hand snatched a hold of her hers, was he quickly pulling her forward, nearly tugging off her feet as they broke into a run. Serah's legs wobbled like uneven stilts, just managing to get her balance again, but by then it was too late to ask what they were running from. Serah could hear it, the branches breaking like bones; the ground on the clearing giving off strong tremors under foot as something climbed up onto it, while she and Noel both ran for their lives with Mog in tow.

And from somewhere not far behind, Serah heard the loud hissing of a snake.


	5. Serpent

A/N: When writing a relationship between two characters who aren't canon, it's important not to ignore the relationships they have with other people. Serah can't drop everything to be with Noel, and Noel can't do the same neither, because canon speaking, their hearts have already been taken. Serah loves Snow, and Noel loves Yeul. For these reasons there are complications, no simple or direct path to the other, because harbouring feelings for another person when you're already in love or engaged to someone else, is not something that can easily be overlooked.

That is why, even though I don't have a great passion for Serah and Snow, I won't let this prevent me writing about them or contradicting the emotional turmoil the characters are going through in this story, because in truth, they are just as important elements as everything else. The same said for Noel and Yeul as well.

The beautiful thing about fanfiction, is the ability to create windows to different possibilities that you may never get the chance to see within canon events. Plausible or implausible they might be, it is that creativity that is our greatest gift. To be able step outside from those four walls and see the world from a different perspective; a what if.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Adam &amp; Eve<em>**

_Chapter 5 - Serpent_

* * *

><p><em>Serah had only left Lightning's home a few minutes after their argument, when the PSICOM soldiers showed up in Bodhum. As soon she was spotted, orders were being shouted out to open fire on who they called the <strong>dangerous Pulse l'Cie<strong>. If it hadn't been for Snow running up behind her, pulling her by the hand into that alleyway before the first rounds were fired, Serah would've been shot dead in the street that day, left to die in a puddle of her own blood like all the other girls PISCOM gunned down matching her description; their clothes tore open from where their corpses had been searched for the l'Cie brand._

_And she was scared, that she would be next.  
><em>

_Losing the number of soldiers chasing them had been difficult. It was luck for both Serah and Snow that they knew Bodhum like the back of their hands, having both grown up there. They had taken shortcut after shortcut, running over rooftops to climbing over fences and walls until they were sure they weren't being followed. But they were nowhere in the clear, for all around them Bodhum was being put under quarantine, with Soldiers kicking down doors and dragging people out onto the street from their homes or vehicles; with or without their consent. _

_The civilians were being escorted by the masses to the Bodhum train station, all the while PSICOM were still looking for her; constantly singling out any females with pink hair and putting a bullet between their eyes before the women could beg for their lives or show proof they weren't the one who PSICOM thought they were. _

_That was how desperate the army were to find her, they weren't showing any mercy to **anybody**. The whole thing was practically a public slaughter house, with everyone in Bodhum treated like cattle, with any to defy orders by PSICOM being killed without any negotiation. It left her and Snow trapped in a game of cat and mouse, unable to help anyone or even themselves. And the whole time they'd been running, they could hear soldiers everywhere; the cries of civilians being taken against their will, and the sounds of gunshot firing off in different parts of their home town as yet more innocent lives were taken. _

_It hadn't felt real, none of it had._

"_We won't make it, t-there's no way…"_

_She and Snow had been hiding in an alley behind a hotel, waiting for the opportunity between the swarms of PSICOM soldiers and arrested citizens to make a break for Snow's air-motorcycle parked down by the shore. The odds of climbing on that bike and flying across the ocean to someplace safe seemed impossible, but it was only option they had left. Yet for Serah, she hadn't been able to even imagine them getting that far._

"_Hey don't talk like, we'll be okay," Snow's larger hand had closed around her smaller one, pulling it gently away where it had clutched at the bandage on her arm. "We've come this far already, we just have to go a little further. We can do it, I know we can." _

_There was such passion and determination in Snow's face, but it wasn't enough to scare away the fear of death that tormented her back then. Serah had kept seeing it flash before her eyes; the soldiers surrounding them; the bullets ripping through their bodies. She was convinced they would be found and that they would die. And more than that, Serah was scared Lightning would share that same fate too; uncertain at the time whether or not her sister being a member of Guardian Corps would still be enough to save her from the culling of all the pink haired women in the town.  
><em>

_That thought Lightning might already be laying dead in the street somewhere, had terrified her._

"_No, no we won't-"_

"_Yes, we will," Snow promised like the hero he was, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "I promised I'd protect you no matter what and that's what I'm going to do. We'll make it out this, Serah. I won't let anything happen to you. You have to trust me."_

_Serah had remembered the speech Snow had given to her on the pier after he'd chased after her, the same devotion he had shown that night of the fireworks when he proposed. Snow saved her from giving up, from taking her own live. Serah was still there because of him, because he loved her so much. If it hadn't been for that love, Serah wouldn't be alive to this day._

_She'd been shaking, more tears threatening to fall like the many she had cried every night since being branded. Somehow Serah managed to hold it together, knowing then was not the time for that. Snow needed for her to be brave, and thanks to him, he had given her that courage._

"_I trust you."_

"_That's my girl," Snow had kissed her hand like a knight to his queen, too precious to be lost. And Serah remembered wanting to kiss him in return, in case they never got another chance, but Snow was already tugging her forward, getting ready for them to charge out of hiding, either to freedom...or to their end. _

_"All right, together now."_

_On the count of three, out they had dashed onto the street, running for their lives and for love._

* * *

><p><strong><em>"I will stand by you, no matter what happens. I'm yours, forever."<em>**

* * *

><p>Adrenaline pumping through their veins, they sprinted across the giant branches, leaping from one to the other as if they'd been born for it. Onto flat ground they soon find themselves again above the trees, where waterfalls flowed and crystals stuck out aside the twisting path like thorns. Water sprayed over their bodies from the falls, dampening skin and soaking the ground beneath. More than once they would slip on the grass; and more than once did they pick themselves up and keep going.<p>

"Come on, Serah!"

Noel's grip on her hand remained strong as ever as he led the way, with Mog keeping up with their every stride. They'd been running for long stretches without stopping, and tried Serah did, but she could no longer match Noel's pace. He'd always been the fastest runner between them, and with the greater stamina to match, there was only so far Serah could push herself before her body finally gave out.

And it did.

"N-Noel!" Serah gasped, right before her legs collapsed under her own weight, forcing them to an abrupt stop. With barely a moment to catch her breath, Noel was already hoisting her up, steering her towards the thick crimson foliage, behind some shrubs.

"Get down, _quickly!_" he whispered as he made them duck out of sight, the nettles prickling at their bare ankles and legs from where they were crouched down low. Mog joined them shortly afterwards, his heartbeat going crazy against Serah's chest when he had dropped into her arms, tired from his speedy flight. Even Noel was looking exhausted, his intakes of breaths sharp and unsteady.

"Is it gone? Did we-" Serah said and clamped her mouth shut when Noel swiftly raised his arm, warning her and Mog to be silent.

They sat still and waited, listening out beyond the crashing of the waterfalls that were making it difficult hear anything else passed them. They had hardly any time to recover from their run when they heard it again, the loud hissing that crawled right under Serah's skin and sent her pulse racing. Beside her, Noel shuffled away from where he was crouched, and Serah hesitantly followed, with Mog trembling in her arms as all three cautiously peered out from the side of the bushes.

It was slowly creeping along the trail they had tread not long before; a body of inky scales bearing markings of jaded crimson from its head all the way down to its slick tail. Giant reptile eyes, all seeing and unblinking, were the color of flames that almost appeared to glow like the marking on its body. And every time its hungry mouth parted, Serah saw rows of razor sharp teeth, every one of them narrow like daggers.

It was a snake, a massive snake; long enough that Serah was sure its body could've almost reached one end of New Bodhum to the other, and with jaws wide enough to swallow a person whole, or maybe even bigger…like, a giant flan for example.

"Serpentress," Noel whispered.

Serah glanced at him. "What? You know what that thing is, Noel?"

"That's what they're called, Serpentress. They're a species of snake that evolved quickly over the centuries down on Grand Pulse to hunt larger prey. But they're rare, extremely rare. I've never actually seen one myself," Noel fell silent in dismay; as if he couldn't believe what he was saying. "It doesn't make any sense, what's it doing in this time, and here?"

Neither three said anything, though they all must've came to the same conclusion to what the answer might be. There was no other explanation; this had to be part of a paradox.

The snake, Serpentress, slithered to a stop not far from the waterfalls, where it raised its long upper body to as height of the cliff tops as it flicked out a blood red tongue, tasting at the air.

"It's been tracking us. It knows we're close," Noel said, causing Mog to start shivering in her arms even more.

"What, it can smell us?" Serah asked.

Noel shook her head. "_Could,_ the water from the falls is confusing it, but that won't fool it for long."

The scrubs would keep them out of sight for now, but that wouldn't do them any good if Serpentress managed to pick up on their scent again. If it so much as got too close…

"What are we gonna do?"

Noel tapped at his knee, using his quick thinking to try and figure out a course of action that didn't involve getting them all killed.

He held out his hand. "Mog, bow!"

"Kupo!" The moogle said timidly, and flew out of Serah's grasp. As soon as he did, into the mystical bow did he transform into, landing perfectly in Noel's hands. Leaning out from where they hid low, the hunter strung back the bow as he took aim at the unsuspecting reptile, almost ready to let a magical arrow go…

When the bow flashed, shuddering uncontrollably.

"What the-"

The weapon exploded like a mini smoke bomb, and Mog went shooting out of it, hitting the ground between them dazed and disorientated.

"Kupo…"

Hastily Serah scooped the moogle up, cradling him protectively. "I don't understand it. This didn't happen before!"

She had last used Mog in his weapon form when they had checked the area for Time Gates. There had been no problems then…no wait, that was it! Serah had used Mog as a bow, but she hadn't fired any arrows! Would it be the same with the sword too? Would it dematerialize if either one of them tried to throw a single swing with it?

"This is bad," Noel said before he forced her and Mog back with his arm when Serpentress turned its head in their direction, just short of spotting them.

The ground began to tremor as the massive snake went on the move again, and by the sounds of it, it was coming their way. It would take Serpentress little to no time at all to find them and make easy pickings of the three. Without anything to protect them they didn't stand a chance, and if they tried to run again now after having exerted so much energy already, they wouldn't make it far.

They needed to act now, and fast!

It was then, in the midst Noel of preparing group to get ready to move on his word, Serah noticed something to the left of her. Just beside the tall shrubs there was grouping of crystals growing out from the ground, stemming from another branch of the pillar. It was between those pointy shards, Serah saw there was a small gap that looked just wide enough for them to fit through.

A way out?

"Noel, look!"

He saw it too and no soon had he was Noel ushering her towards the crystals, pushing her and Mog in as quickly as they were able to crawl. The hole brought them into a small cavern hidden amongst the crystal, where the light from outside fazed through the rugged walls of misty blue glass, giving some visibility. The cavern contained only just enough room for the three of them to sit in under that low ceiling, and there were no other exits, but this was no time for luxuries.

"We're in!" Serah said, quickly getting herself clear, as it was now Noel's turn to come through. The crawl space was a tighter squeeze for the teen, forcing him to go right down on his belly and shimmy through. Though even doing this, his broader shoulders gave him trouble that Serah's slenderer shape and Mog's small plump form hadn't; _a far greater problem._

Noel cursed, gritting his teeth. "I'm stuck!"

Serah couldn't believe her ears. "Are you kidding me?"

"Does it look like I'm fooling around?" He grunted, trying to wrestle himself out to no avail. He was starting to get sound desperate. "Help me out here, _hurry!_"

Serah grabbed at the only arm that Noel he had gotten through, pulling at it as hard as she could along with the moogle. Tugged at it they did, but was no use, his body was wedged in tight against the crystal.

"Try harder!"

"I am trying!"

"Kuuupo!"

The trio kept at it as time tick away nearing to Serpentress's arrival. Serah could hear it getting closer, at any second it would be on him and Serah didn't want to think of what could happen once it did.

She couldn't let him die, not like this!

In a last ditch effort, Serah reached under Noel armpits, getting a better grip on his body. And pressing one of her feet against the crystal wall by the crawlspace for leverage; Serah pulled with everything she had.

"Come on! **Lightning please!**"

Just as her strength was giving out, small chunks of the crystal broke off and Noel came free. Legs kicking, he scrambled away alongside with her, making it in just in time before a shadow hung over the entrance of the cavern, darkening the thick sheets of crystal that shielded them from view of the snake.

Serah went to move back into the furthest corner of their hideaway as Serpentress hissed loudly from outside, when the firm hand on her wrist stopped her.

Noel leaned over to her, lips brushing near her earlobe as he'd whispered into her ear. "They hear through vibrations, _don't move_."

Serah was too scared to even speak, but a look to her companion let him know she understood, as did Mog as the moogle latched onto the back of her shoulder blades, in case the beating of his wings might risk giving them away.

It was like Noel had said, the water from the falls was confusing Serpentress's sense of smell, and with the ground under foot moist and their bodies wet, the three combined made it more difficult for the snake to find where exactly it was that they were hiding. But though it couldn't see them and was struggling to pick up their scent, Serpentress wouldn't leave. It continued to stay where it was, its tongue whipping across the grass from where the group was previously crouch, to near the cavern crawl space.

They had made such a commotion trying to get in here that Serah didn't stop to think that the reptile might've been smart enough to have figured out where they had gone. If it found them, would it be able to break open the crystal? Was it stronger enough to do that? If so, what then?

Serah clenched her eyelids shut as the three of them kept still; praying the worst wouldn't befall them, _begging_.

Her prayers were answered. The darkness lurking over the cavern shifted and they were welcomed by the sound Serpentress dragging its bulk of a body away. The forest bowed to its mercy as it slowly slithered off, slipping into the furthest reaches of Sunleth, until finally they could hear it no more…

It was long after everything fell into a time of stillness, with only trio's pounding hearts for company, did they all finally let go of the breaths they'd been holding, and relax.

The threat had passed, for now.

"Thank goodness, I thought it would find us," Serah said, leaning her head against the cavern wall.

"Same, saying that was a close shave would be putting it lightly," Noel shut his eyes as he did same, still shaken up by his near miss with death. He had never looked so grateful to be alive. "Nice one, Serah. You just saved us from becoming dinner."

Mog kupo'd sadly as he hopped onto Serah's shoulder, taking flight briefly before setting himself down by her side. The moogle had taken Noel's comment to heart, no doubtingly upset on why he couldn't successfully create an arrow for the hunter earlier and save them; another mystery unresolved.

"This is insane. First we get stranded here, we can't use our magic, and now a huge snake from your time is after us? _Why? _Who's doing all this?" Serah hugged her arms tightly. "I keep expecting to wake up anytime now, like I'm dreaming."

"If this is a dream, then we're dreaming it together," said Noel almost poetically, "Whoever's running amok causing all these paradoxes sure has a twisted idea of fun all right. They're playing us for fools, pawns in their game, and we're at their mercy of their rules."

Noel was right. With Mog now out for the count in being unable to function as a weapon, they really were at the mercy of the world and the entity or force behind them being trapped in Sunleth Waterscape. They had already ruled out Caius being the culprit, but were they too quick to do so? But then who else out there had it in them? As far as Serah was aware of, they hadn't made any other enemies on their journey, none that could pull off a stunt like this.

Or was it somebody from the future tampering with the past? Someone they hadn't met yet?

A wince of pain from her friend made Serah snap out from her thoughts, and she jolted upright on noticing Noel was holding his shoulder. She could see blood.

"Are you okay?"

"It's just a flesh wound. I'll be fine," Noel winced again on picking something out from his skin; a fragment of crystal. Serah could see several of them, sticking out like rose thorns from where they were imbedded in his shoulder. It didn't look life threatening, but it was sure bleeding its fair share of blood; already beginning to drip its way down the tanned skin of his arm.

Noel must have gotten it when she and Mog had pulled him free…

Moving over on her knees, Serah came to sit neatly beside him, fingers inching to release healing magic they no longer possessed in them as she assessed the wound. "Here, let me help you."

Noel tensed up on her presence in the close confines of that cavern, though there was no attempt on the young man's part in playing the tough guy. He let his hand fall away from his shoulder, remembering as always to keep his eyes anywhere than on her while Serah went about tending to his injury.

"Appreciated," Noel said.

The fragments all varied in size, with some tiny pieces resting just on the surface that were easy enough to brush away, but there were other much larger fragments that were in buried deep in his arm; the source of the bleeding. The crystals here on the pillar was far more brittle than she thought.

How on Pulse was Cocoon still standing?

Serah did her best to be gentle, taking her time in removing each piece of fragment as to save Noel from as much discomfort as possible. Still, it didn't stop him from flinching every time she had pulled one out. It was hurting him a great deal, more than he was showing.

"I'm sorry, this is my fault."

"Don't be. You did good back there. Better this," Noel motioned at his shoulder, "than being down some snake's gullet."

"No, I don't mean…" Serah bowed her head, halting with her process before she carried on, removing the crystals with the greatest care possible. "I should've…if we'd gone with your plan and left when you said, instead of hanging around-"

"Don't worry about it," Noel stopped her with lightly, "What's done is done. Beating yourself up over what can't be change won't do you no good. I'd know all about that." The young man nearly went looked at her, but blinked it off, settling for the moogle sat across from them in an unhappy mood. "You were only following your heart, worrying about your sister…if it were me and Yeul, I probably would've-_argh!_ Hey!"

The largest of the fragments rested pinched between Serah's thumb and forefinger. She set it down amongst the other bloody shards, smiling weakly. "Sorry, almost done now."

"Better be," Noel sighed as he rested his head back, studying the oscillating shadows of treetops fazing through that ceiling of crystal, creating the illusion they were all underwater, far beneath the waves. "Be sure to remind me not to pursue acupuncture in the foreseeable future, as a means of relaxation for correcting that qi business, or whatever it is they call it."

"What? Don't tell me you're afraid of a few needles?" Serah asked, feeling her mood lifting a little.

Noel chuckled at this. "Add a hundred to the end of that _few_ and they're not insignificant as they seem. Anyway, becoming a porcupine isn't in my best interests."

"So that's why you nearly backed out of letting Hope give us those vaccination jabs before." Serah said, humming thoughtfully, "The great time traveller Noel Kreiss; the slayer of monsters, afraid of a tiny syringe."

"Says the great time traveller Serah Farron; the deadly archer, afraid of tiny spiders," Noel said, a few brown locks of hair falling over his eyes, smirking. "And if I recall, Miss Farron, you were just as unwilling to have those shots as me, or am I wrong?"

Hope had been insistent on them having vaccinations, saying they needed them because they weren't acclimatised to the environment of that era, and with all the diseases that could be circulating in such a massive city, they had to take precautions. It was really only after Hope told them Alyssa had previously fallen ill with a stomach bug a few days after waking in 400AF, one with the nastiest of side efects, that she and Noel had no further objections to the shots.

"Well at least I didn't use the excuse of saying I had a high immunity, Noel."

"Better than me saying I'm allergic to needles, like you. And it wasn't an excuse" Noel smiling fondly, almost letting out another chuckle. "Look at us, fooling around as if we're on some kind of field trip. Lightning must be laughing at us."

"Knowing my sister, you're probably right. That or she's preparing a lengthy speech for us when we find her, probably along the lines of us on focusing on an ultimate goal and shutting everything else out. She used to say that a lot," Serah said, as she removed another piece of crystal. "Though when is life ever normal for us? After all we've been through I don't think anybody back at NORA would ever believe us…"

Taking on an army of giant machines; becoming trapped within a tower of data; turning into monsters to poison a giant flan king; freeing the grieving souls of the dead; resolving anomalies through strange puzzles in a void of stars; visiting a casino floating in a timeless sky;. They had done so much on their journey, with more adventures than Serah had experienced in her entire lifetime. Every day was something new, another problem that needed fixing; another challenge that needed to be accomplished. The people they had met, the things they had seen…Serah didn't want it to all be for nothing.

Her hands kept a gentle hold on Noel's arm where the last of the crystals had been removed, her fingers bloody from his injury unhealed to her touch that was already beginning to congeal.

"We need to get out of here," Serah said, not just referring to the cavern, but all of Sunleth. "As long as we're here, we're in danger of that thing finding us. If we're lucky, maybe we can get far enough away from it to lose it for good."

Noel nodded in approval. "Right, but we should lay low for a while longer, at least until-"

"I sense something nearby, kupo!"

Serah nearly had a heart attack, thinking for a split second Mog was warning them of Serpentress's return. However the moogle wasn't. Instead, both she and Noel were met with the welcoming sight of Mog's gem stone glowing brightly like a beacon, the pink light radiating off the crystal walls of that cavern.

It meant only one thing. Their ticket out of here was close.

* * *

><p><em>The day Snow showed up in Academia was like something right out of a fairy tale.<em>

_She, Noel and Mog were at the front desk in the main lobby of Academy headquarters at the time, going over the locations of the Graviton Cores Hope would need to raise the new Cocoon. Noel had pointed at one marked on the list, surprising Serah with the news a core fragment was not far from New Bodhum back in 3AF. In turn she had brought up the suggestion they should go pay her friends a visit while they were there, when a certain **somebody **had spoken out._

"_If you do go, mind if I tag along for the ride?"_

_It had been almost eight, to nine weeks since Serah had last seen Snow in Sunleth, after they'd been cruelly separately on resolving the paradox. There hadn't been a day that went by that Serah hadn't feared for her hero's safety, constantly worrying that despite her resolve to find him again, that he might have disappeared forever, erased from the timeline and existence altogether. _

_Yet there he had been in the flesh, standing just a few feet away from them alive and well, as if none of that had ever happened._

"_What's the matter? I got something in my teeth?" Snow had teased charmingly to her muteness, for having been in complete shock at his sudden reappearance, unable to comprehend that he was really there in the Academy. But as soon as that shock had worn off, and Serah's was finally able accept Snow was no illusion, she had gone flying into his arms in a heartbeat, crying out his name with such relief when he didn't disappear._

_"Now that's more like it!"_ _Snow had spun her around in circles like she was his princess; neither one having cared how much attention they drew upon themselves as their laughter bounced off every wall and rose as high as the beautiful glass ceiling of that lobby. _

_No more fears, no more waiting. Finally, Snow was back with her and they were together again…_

_The whole time they were in Academy headquarters talking with Hope and Alyssa, Serah was so happy, that her cheeks had been hurting from all the smiling, but she hadn't cared. Serah had felt on top of the world, feeling a sense of pride every time she had introduced Snow as her fiancé the other academy members she'd befriended in the city. Through it all, her and Snow's had rarely wandered more than a few feet away from one another, never having gone long without his hand squeezing hers, or an arm going around her shoulders and pulling her close; the innocent touches Serah had missed out on those three years without him, and was more than happy to make up for lost time._

_For once, life felt almost complete again, enough that Serah believed they could start looking to the future and pick up from where they left off. _

_If only, things had been that simple…_

_Snow was filling the group in on what he'd been up since they had last met, when from out of the blue, he'd warned Hope someone was going to assassinate him in **three days**, taking the entire group by surprise and anybody within eavesdropping range to have overheard. As a result, it had caused the Academy to go on full alert within minutes as security was tightened on all floors, and operation 'pat-me-down' became the procedure for anybody entering and leaving the building._

"_I should've brought it up sooner, my bad," Snow said to Hope after they'd left research facility, casually scratching the back of his head while Noel was getting unwanted attention from security, that didn't know how best to handle patting down his extremely baggy pants that were being scanned suspiciously with a metal detector. "Meeting up with Serah and seeing you weren't a shrimp anymore, I guess it must've slipped my mind."_

"_Slipped your mind!?" Never had Hope look so baffled. "How can something as important as my life being at risk slip your mind, Snow?"_

_"Like I said, my bad...look don't give me that face, I remembered didn't I? What more do you want?"_

_Though the director had seemed more concerned about the recklessness of being left in the dark by his friend over something so serious, rather than discussing identity of the assassin and the attempt that would soon to be made on his life. The group had eventually gotten around to it, Snow however, hadn't gone into much detail on the matter. In fact, he had never said exactly who it was, or how or where the assassination would take place, just that he **knew** it was going to happen and that they needed to be ready for it. Vague as the warning was, it was a warning still, and one Hope didn't take for granted, as he had vowed on Snow's word to stay alive long enough to get the new Cocoon up and running. _

_Sometime afterwards, in acting like a leader of the team, Snow had ordered Noel to go on guard duty and protect the director, saying he would be the right man for the job, given his years of training to be a guardian and having watched out for her all these months. And then, Snow had declared he and Serah would be the ones to collect the Gravitons Cores in his absence instead; not her and Noel._

_And something, just..._

"_Wait, Noel can't come with us?" Serah spoke out on as soon Snow had said it, causing all eyes to fall on her by how swhift she'd been to interupt. Yet despite not having anticipated her reaction, it hadn't taken long before Snow flashed her a laid back smile, showing little sign that he was fazed by it. _

"_That's the deal. The Shiva sisters can only carry two people. Much as I'd like for our future friend to lend us a hand, three's a crowd," Snow said, before he'd glanced over at where Noel stood by Hope and Alyssa and quickly added, "No offense."_

_Noel had shrugged; his expression calm as his tone. "None taken."_

_Mog however had taken plenty of offense, threatening to beat Snow with his staff for having excluded him, until the blonde quickly corrected himself into saying four was a crowd instead. But no humor was to be found in the moment for Serah, for it was long gone, unreachable._

"_But I...is it really okay for us to leave like this?" she had asked her hero, anxiously grasping at the silver pendent chained around her neck. "I just can't help feeling like we'll be abandoning everyone."_

_The truth was Serah didn't want any of them to separate. She, Noel and Mog had started their journey together, and she had thought with Snow now with them, all four would travel together to find Lightning._

_But she had been wrong, so wrong. _

"_Oh don't you worry, Serah. We'll be just fine. And you know me, I'll be sure to keep a watchful eye on the director while you're gone," Alyssa had said bubbly, looping her arms around Hope's, who had flustered and once again pulled his overly friendly assistant away before he'd said. "There's no need for concern on my wellbeing. The important thing is finding those cores. They're essential to our cause. The Graviton Core retrieved from The Thirteenth Ark won't be enough, we need all six." _

_Noel spoke up. "Hope's right, we'll hold down the fort here until the both of you get back. That way, we can be in two places at the same time and get the job done twice of fast."_

"_And we'll be talking to Lightning before you know it," Snow finished. He'd patted Serah on the shoulder almost a bit too roughly, before his voice softened to her in reassurance to compensate. "See, nothing to worry about it. Don't sweat it."_

_On the promise of meeting her sister sooner, Serah reluctantly agreed, forced into submission by both her friends and fiancé as she'd no said more. But inside she'd been screaming, because it wasn't enough. She should've been overjoyed at the prospect of travelling with her hero and going to New Bodhum to see their friends again at NORA, yet she wasn't. Instead Serah had felt sad, angry, confused…all for reasons, she had no answers to._

_Every step Serah had taken with Snow's hand firmly holding by hers, more and more had it felt like a weight was crushing down on her chest, that as they both walked out through automatic doors of Academy headquarters and into the sunlight, Serah found it hard to breathe…_

* * *

><p><strong><em>"I made up my mind. You and I, we go together."<em>**

* * *

><p>"It's safe to come out, kupo."<p>

There was no sign of Serpentress on crawling out from the cavern. It wasn't to be heard or seen anywhere, nor anything else that might pose a threat. Wherever the snake had gone, it was away now, or so Serah hoped. But the thought gave little comfort, and did nothing to tame the beating of her heart for standing so exposed out in the open as she was, as if some beast might appear out of nowhere at any moment and rip her body to shreds.

Serah was scared, and long as they were in this mess, she wouldn't feel safe.

But there was other foe they now had to contend, which was the day itself. The sun wasn't as high in the sky as it had been when they had first arrived in Sunleth. A few hours were left, maybe less before it would sink below the distant lands of Grand Pulse, and night would reign supreme. When that happened, they would be completely in the dark, and with a massive snake on the loose, being blind was the last thing they needed.

They didn't have much time.

"A little help?" came the voice of none other than Noel, whose body was sticking partially out of the cavern entrance in a set of very, _very_ familiar circumstances.

Serah frowned. "Again?"

"Again," Noel mirrored back rather charismatically considering things, and held out his arm for Serah and Mog to grab onto. It hadn't taken much to free him this time around, given they weren't rushing to save him from being devoured by a giant snake; a memory still too fresh in recalling.

"See, aren't you happy we went first now?" she said Noel after he was out, although secretly Serah had other reasons for convincing to him to go last, not only just in case he got stuck like he had, but that the idea to helping Noel out from the rear hadn't been a pleasant one.

How glad she was to have talked him into going last.

"Yeah, I owe you twice now. Thanks." Noel said, brushing himself off, having only gained a few scratches and nothing more. Checking area to ensure it was secure as she and Mog had done, Noel turned towards the moogle. "So, any ideas where it is we should be going?"

Without delay their magical moogle flapped his wings, pointing a staff out in the direction of the trail.

"This way, kupo."

Using his special sixth sense, Mog had led the way for the pair, with his bobble glowing ever more intensely as they got closer to whatever it was he was reacting to. In the meantime they had moved slowly on Noel's advice, keeping their wits about them. After all, they still weren't sure how far Serpentress had gone and didn't want the reptile picking up their vibrations that running might create too much of, even though that was _exactly _what Serah wanted to do right now, and get out of that forest.

Fortunately even walking at a slow pace, it took them little time before they found what Mog was sensing. It was floating there in the middle of the path by the falls as if it had always been there, waiting. Of course it hadn't. The three had passed this way before when running from Serpentress and neither one saw it then, just like Mog's bobble hadn't been shining as brightly as it did this very moment.

It wasn't a gate, but it was the first step to one at least.

Mystified Serah walked through the thin layers of water spraying out from the falls, and extending her hands out, she gently took hold of the translucent sphere, where illuminated within was a beautiful red crystal apple, rotating slowly like a mobile above a baby's crib.

Out of all the eccentric artefacts they'd come across, none had ever been found in the shape of a fruit. This was unusual, even for the abnormal of items that shouldn't belong.

"Someone's playing tricks on us," Serah said to Noel standing close beside her, their forearms grazing one another as he carefully retrieved the artefact that she offered out to him.

"No kidding," there was a marvel in Noel's eyes as he'd studied the crystal, the same wonder as the day they had found their first artefact at New Bodhum, inside the mirror in her bedroom. "It's strange, never seen one like this before. I wonder what brought it out of hiding."

"Yeah…"

Artefacts and gates shared a connection. You couldn't have one without the other. No matter how far away an artefact was to its gate -whether in distance or in another era- wherever they found an artefact, quite often did they find a gate not far from it. If there was a gate in this time, then it would have to be close by. But Noel was right by calling this artefact strange. Often artefacts only showed up when a paradox was unravelled or hidden in an invisible shroud Mog's magic was required to remove. They hadn't done anything of the sort to trigger this one's appearance, and the way it was just sitting out here in clear view like this...

Serah asked. "Could it be a fake?"

"It doesn't look it. If it is, then this is sure one hell of a convincing counterfeit," Noel glanced over his shoulder at the forest in a look of apprehension, as if sensing they were being watched. "Still, this all feels off, like it's staged."

Serah looked out beyond the faint mist of the falls, brushing away her fringe that was sticking to her forehead from the moisture. "You mean, like somebody _wants _us to take it?"

"Yeah," Noel said, turning back to the study the apple shaped artefact. "Question is, is that somebody a friend or a foe?"

The Yeuls had been no strangers to helping them in the past, and handing them over artefacts wasn't out of the ordinary for the Seeresses either. Serah however was passed the point of suspecting any of the incarnations of the young girl being part of this, because on every occasion Yeul had given them an artefact directly. So what was this, bait that someone wanted them to take? Or was it Lightning trying to help them find a way out?

Serah looked to where Mog was floating quietly next to her. The light of his jewelled bobble already having diminished back to its normal glow, meaning the gate they needed wouldn't be found anywhere around here anytime soon. And that in itself got Serah thinking, if maybe _that_ could be the trap? Having them give into the temptation of searching for this artefact's corresponding gate, risk encountering Serpentress again or some other adversary.

To attempt that in their condition, it would be suicide.

"What do you want to do?" Noel asked of her, but Serah's mind was already made up. Lightning needed them alive, and she was damn sure it was going to stay that way.

"Not play by anyone's rules, that's what I want," she whispered, no form of protest arising from her friend as she had taken the artefact back from him, and began walking.

Noel followed. "That's great and everything, but would you mind filling me in first on where it is we're going?"

"Out of here, out of Sunleth Waterscape like we agreed," Serah said to him, not slowing down as she stepped through the densest parts of that mist. "You're right Noel, it's too dangerous here. We should never have stayed. We'll go with your plan, take the artefact with us, and come back when we have what we need to defend ourselves. Then, we can find the gate this belongs to, if we don't already find it before all that first."

"Sounds like a solid plan," Noel said, lagging behind. "But Serah, maybe you should let me, uh…"

"Let you what?" She asked puzzled, stopping with him not long afterwards. She watched Noel from where he stood to one side, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck where his hair stuck clammy to from the falls. And on loudly clearing his throat, Serah remembered with great embarrassment of their little_…arrangement._

After everything that had happened, she almost but completely forgot.

"Oh, right!" her cheeks burning red, Serah shyly took short and very quick steps backwards, leaving more than enough room for him to take the lead. "A-After you!"

"Thanks," Noel passed her without complaint, a lone smile gone before Serah could tell if it had really been there at all or if she had only imagined it. Noel barely walked more than a few steps before he halted, glancing up at the waters cascading down the cliff sides into the depths of Sunleth below. "I almost forget, before we head out, we'll have make a pit stop first."

"A pit stop?" Serah asked.

"I told you Serpentresses hear through vibrations earlier, remember? Well that's because they're virtually deaf. The main senses they rely on to find prey is smell, meaning being quiet and watching ourselves out here will only do so much," Noel extended out his hand to the mists of water clinging tp his skin, where a small pool began to gather in his palm. "As soon as we venture away these falls, it'll pick up our scent up again, and we'll be right back where we started."

Serah glanced down at the droplets dripping down the transparent globe of the artefact. "So we need to cover up our scent so it can't smell us, is that it?"

"Yup,"

"...With what?"

Having taken a sip of the water he had collected, Noel shook his hand dry, "You're standing right on it."

On checking, Serah saw what he was referring to. The section of ground here along the path had become so sodden by the waterfalls; it was nothing more than sludge that her feet were sinking into; the perfect substance to mask their scent, but not the most fragrant.

Mud...

"Mog is not a dog, kupo," the moping moogle said, unsupportively.

The artefact cradled in one arm, Serah leant down and scooped some of the muck up with her fingers, the thought of having to smother her whole body in it causing for her to make a face in disgust. "Please tell me you're joking, you are right?"

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not. If we're to survive, it's the way it's got to be," Noel said, crossing his arms. "So unless you want a date with a snake, get yourself a spreading Farron."

"..."

"That wasn't what I...forget it."

* * *

><p>Having quenched their thirsts at the waterfalls, and rubbed enough dirt on their bodies that her, Noel and Mog all looked as though they had been skinny dipping in a mud pool, the filthy trio finally set off on what was the most nerving hours of complete silence.<p>

Things were still very much quiet in the forest and they chose to keep it that way. Though Noel had assured her Serpentress hearing was weak, they refrained from any unnecessary chitchat for the time being just to be on the safe side. But they were in luck, for as the hours went by, no the massive snake showed up to make chase of them again. Noel's plan had work. Serpentress had vanished as quickly as it appeared on Cocoon, and with fingers her crossed Serah prayed it would be the last they'd see of it. Still, Serah couldn't relax, none of them could.

It was sad, thinking they had come here in the hope of leaving Sunleth, yet their hopes had become the false mirage of an oasis, and something more sinister had crawled out of it. But at least from that chaos they had found an artefact, and had new goals to strive for. All they could do now, was plan ahead and be prepared for the long trip it was going to take them to find civilization. And Serah was sure there would be a lot worse things out there facing them, in the world where monsters were left to roam free; the world where the last remaining pockets of mankind were emptying away onto Gran Pulse…if they hadn't already left Cocoon completely.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, as Lebreau would say.

"Noel, what happens if nobody's there, in Nautilus?"

It was the first thing Serah or any of them had said in a while. The words came out a whisper; self-conscious they would be overheard. But it was more than that, because as much as Serah wanted to believe in her friend, she couldn't help thinking the worst. What if Noel was wrong and there really was no one left on Cocoon to help them?

"I'm not saying I don't want to go or anything. We need to," Serah quickly jumped in again before he could answer, minding her step on those ivy laced branches. "But I mean, worst case scenario, we get there and it's abandoned; what do we do then?"

"Find somewhere else I guess," Noel said in a tone just as soft as hers, "The next closest town to us preferably."

Serah bit at her lip, "And, if there's no one there either, or anywhere else?"

Noel stopped, not because of her, but because he was trying to figure out which route through the trees would better in taking them west. "Well, if it comes to that, then we'll just head to the Gran Elevator."

He didn't sound the least bit worried.

Serah eyed her muddy friend, holding the artefact closely as he walked along the branch without a single loss of balance. "But where do we find it? We've never been to the Gran Elevator, Noel. We don't even know what it looks like."

"It can't be too hard to track down. If they needed to transport people and supplies down to Gran Pulse, the most accessible point to do that would be near the base of the crystal pillar," Noel pulled back the vines hanging across the branch in a curtain of leafs, double checking the coast was clear before proceeding. He stood aside, keeping the way open for her. "And think, with the large population to have settled on Gran Pulse from Cocoon over the years, and the tools and machinery they would've needed to build a city as big as Academia, I'm guessing this elevator has _gran_ in its name for a reason, and why only one such elevator exists for a whole populous."

"As in it must be big and easy to spot," Serah said, bending her head forward as she stepped through, the curtain of vines falling closed behind her immediately after Noel let go, leaving a grumpy moogle to wiggle through the vines after them; annoyed to have been left on the other side.

Noel squeezed passed her. "We have to remember as well, Hope said they were doing what they could to minimize the damage should Cocoon fall. I think I understand what he meant."

"You do?" Serah asked confused.

Noel picked up on this and explained. "It wasn't exactly the mass of a giant planet like Cocoon that destroyed the world in my future; it was the chemicals it released on impact that did it. That's why the lands became barren and the waters a sea of toxins. The waste left up here in old factories and cities after everybody left, it condemned all life to a slow miserable death the moment Cocoon came crashing down onto Gran Pulse."

After everything her sister and the others had done to free mankind from Orphan, it had only resulted in another catastrophe that would inevitably doom everyone hundreds of years later down the line. Indirectly, it was Serah's own actions for entering the Pulse Vestige that had set the wheels in motion for what transpired in those 13 days...and was the cause for Noel inevitably becoming the last human alive.

If it hadn't been for Hope stepping up and pushing forward his plans to raise the new Cocoon, nobody else would've prevented the ticking time bomb from going off in the next 500 years. The ignorance of living in the moment, rather than preserving the world for future generations, it doomed them. Though even knowing she wasn't the only one fully to blame didn't make Serah feel any better; there were already enough lives lost because of her three years ago during Purge…

"That's why you're so sure people are still on Cocoon," Serah said, gazing down at the glass sphere of the artefact and the beautifully sculpture apple within it. "Hope would be making sure that as much of that waste was removed as possible to reduce the amount of contamination on Gran Pulse, in case Cocoon fell before the new one could be raised."

"Right, but I think Hope wants to protect Gran Pulse as well and sustain both worlds," Noel held out his hand, helping Serah up a steep part of that gigantic twisted branch. "The new Cocoon is like a failsafe, a plan B to fall back on if all else fails. Even if Gran Pulse became what it was in my future, mankind could still survive on the new Cocoon for however long it took to ride the storm out. It's a floating ark."

Serah cocked her head thoughtfully one side, Mog mimicking the very same motion beside her. "But, we don't know for sure that's what Hope is doing. This could all be guess work."

"Maybe, but if I was in Hope's shoes, I know that's one of the first things I'd want to tackle," said Noel with a mirthful look as he walked on, the bleakness of their situation settling back in. "We just have to have faith that our director friend was smart enough to think of that before we did, and that we still have time."

Cleansing the whole of Cocoon of its hazardous resources, an operation like that would take hundreds of years to accomplish. Thinking about it, Hope had always been bright back when Serah had first met him as a young teenager. If there was anyone Serah trusted to do the right thing, it was him. After all, Hope had gone as far as to build an entire new Cocoon for everyone to live on, taking every measure possible to ensure mankind's children and their children's children lived for a tomorrow. So somewhere on Cocoon, members of the Academy and the army had to be working together to protect that future, weren't they?

Serah just hoped that they wouldn't be proven wrong.

The further they had journeyed on, crossing from one tree to the other, did more of the sky above them lose its blue and begin turning into different shades of gold; the forest withdrawing into a dark cloak as dusk came fast on the approach. They were nowhere near the ground or from leaving Sunleth, and would be lucky if they even made it out these trees in the next hour, which Serah doubted after how long it had taken to climb up these things in the first place.

It was then, Noel spoke, as if having read her mind. "We'll have to stop soon and find someplace safe to rest for the night. We won't be going anywhere once it gets dark."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Serah asked, having to walk slow so she could pay better attention at where it was she was putting her feet. "I mean, with Serpentress…"

"It's okay. As long as it's someplace secure and where nothing can get the jump on us, we'll be fine." Noel wiped the beads of sweat from his mud smeared forehead, adding a wise cracking joke for good measure. "But who knows, if worse comes to worse, perhaps our flan admirers will let us bunk with them tonight, if Mog can charm his words right."

The moogle kupo'd madly, promptly reminding Noel it was the breeding season for the Miniflans and that they would want to be left alone. Serah may have said something to this, in disagreeing with the idea of camping out with those bags of oversized tomatoes, especially after how they'd cornered her and Noel in the way that they had…yet there was something else was that troubling Serah, and had been for the last hour.

It was a persistent urge that wouldn't go away, and it had her near to bursting point.

"Serah? What's the matter?" Noel ended his teasing of Mog when Serah was no longer following them, that in turned caused the moogle to stop threatening to hit the young hunter as well.

"Kupo?"

Serah wanted to brush the whole thing aside and come up with some excuse. But she couldn't, not with this. If she ignored it any longer than she had, it would only get worse until she couldn't hold it anymore.

They _needed_ to know the truth.

"Noel, I…" her heels and knees locked together, Serah scrunched her toes up, near to sobbing as she spoke out, "I, I really have to use the bathroom!"

There was a painfully long silence from Noel and Mog, who from their expressions, clearly hadn't seen this coming.

"You need to go to the bathroom?" Noel asked.

"Yes," Serah said.

"Right now?" Noel asked.

"Yes," Serah repeated.

Noel exchanged a look with the moogle, before giving a little shrug. "Then, just go?"

"I can't," Serah squeaked.

Noel raised a brow, "Why not?"

"I just can't! Not without cover. If I don't have any, I can't go," Serah explained, although feeling like she might pee herself right there and then in front of them. The additional water Serah had drunk from waterfalls earlier was punishing her bladder to impossible odds. "_Please_, Noel."

The young man opened his mouth, maybe thinking of telling her they were the only humans out here for miles, and that she couldn't get more privacy than having one's back turned to the other, like Noel had done an hour before when he needed to relieve himself. But instead he had kept quiet, perhaps remembering that through all their travels, whenever the call of nature rung, Serah had _always_ run off behind a convenient bush, bolder or tree, when public toilets or a bathroom weren't within reach.

He sighed, "Alright, I'll help you find somewhere."

"Thank you," Serah said and obediently followed her friend, while feeling ridiculous in doing so as if she were some child asking permission from a parent.

Lightning wouldn't have tolerated it for a second.

Since they were so high up, the best and only way for Serah to achieve some decent cover was behind the trunk of a tree that was both dense enough to hide behind, and accessible from the branches to get around. It had taken a few agonizing minutes, but Noel was able to find one matching that description, and after having gone round to check it was safe from critters for her, both Noel and Mog remained behind with artefact in hand, while Serah scurried off across the branches to the other side of the tree to do her business, in private.

"I swear Farron, sometimes your 3AF ways allude me." Noel said once she was out of sight.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it," Serah gripped at the trunk for balance as she tried to figure out the best way to go without risking fall off the branch, "You must think I'm a joke..."

"No. Well, not in a bad way, if that's what you're getting at," Noel replied, and sounding like he meant it. "Just, don't take too long. Time's not on our side."

"Okay…"

It was stupid, but even having been naked for half the day, Serah had still reached for the pouch once strapped to her hip after she was finished, having meant to grab the pack of tissues she had always carried for such occasions. But they were gone, like everything else.

Somehow that simple reflex got her thinking of not just of her pouch, but of her clothes and the possessions she'd had on her before they had stepped through the gate and ended up here. The crystals of monsters who responded to her beckoned call; Lightning's knife; to even the lucky coin she had won in Serendipity that one time, all of them, _lost_.

Where were their belongings now? Had they fazed out of existence completely? Winded up in a different time period? Or were they still floating within the Historia Crux, trapped between the gates of time for all eternity? Would they ever get them back?

And then, a realization hit Serah like a strong blow to the stomach, on having forgotten the most important things she cherished most, and had rarely ever gone anywhere without.

Her and Snow's engagement necklaces.

"No…!"

Foolishly Serah reached for the pouch a second time, again feeling nothing but the muddy skin of her hip, before grabbing at her neck, the pain choking her when she found her pendent was missing too.

Only now, after all this time, had Serah noticed they were gone...

"Is everything okay over there?" Noel called out from where he and Mog waited. His voice was light, yet had still given her a scare.

Shakily Serah laid her back against the trunk of the tree, and nodded, even though he wasn't able to see. "Y, Yeah, just a minute."

This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be that stupid. How could she forget their _engagement necklaces_? What kind of person was she for doing that, heartless? It made her feel sick with guilt. It wasn't fair, she hadn't meant for any of this to happen, for things to be led astray. Serah had been so determined to see Lightning and reunite with Snow again, that it was what she had held out for all these years; their happy ending.

How could three months destroy what she had longed to have for over three years? Why was it that such a short length of time now caused her to be so indecisive about something she had once been so sure of long before even Cocoon fell from the sky?

And Snow, he had seen right through her, before she'd even seen it herself…

Tearing away from the though, Serah reached for some leafs hanging overhead, pulling them free as a substitute for tissues. "Noel?"

"Yeah?" the hunter called back with little delay.

Serah almost hesitated. "Can I…is it alright if I ask you a question?"

It took longer for Noel to answer this time, but he did. "Sure thing."

"What did Snow say to you, back in Academia?" when there was no immediate response, Serah elaborator some more. "When Snow and I came back after I...after what happened, he took you to one side and told you something. Do you remember?"

"Well sure, but why do you want to know about that?" Noel asked suspiciously.

Her fingernails picked at the dirt on her skin where her engagement necklace once hung, shame forcing those nails to dig deeper as she stared out at the forest that stared right back at her, vast and unkind. "I just, from curiosity really. And well, he is my fiancé. Why wouldn't I want to know?"

Noel said nothing, and for a second Serah thought maybe he was unwillingly to give the info up. But then had come the creaking of wood from the other side of the tree as Noel shifted on the branch he was stood on, and for just a moment, Serah thought she heard him sigh. "He said…Snow told me to protect you. He made me promise like he did before, right here in Sunleth before he disappeared. That's what it all came back to, said for me to keep looking out for you."

Even after all the things she and Snow had discussed that day in the street away from the Academy, Snow had still told Noel to look out for _her_, but why? She would've thought Noel was last person Snow would've wanted to entrust her, or to even do that...then again, why would she expect any less from her hero? Even when others wronged him or did him harm, Snow stilled helped them. He had been that way for as long as she could remember him; a selfless man who put others before himself, like he had done when she became a l'Cie. He could've turned her in or let her go all those years ago, but Snow had stayed with her through the whole ordeal and fought for her like the earnest man he was.

And yet, Serah had still ended up turning her back on him, that when push had come to shove to go with him, she couldn't follow it through...

'_That's how it is then, huh? I go off to find Lightning, and you-'_

Serah found her voice again. "Did Snow tell you anything else aside from that, anything at all?"

"No, that was it," Noel said, saying nothing else, until the silence finally broke him. "You done?"

"Oh yeah, sorry," Serah called forgetfully, already making her way back around the tree as she stepped over those branches as easily as stepping stones. "Coming."

Noel eased himself away from the trunk on her return; taking some steps ahead to give her room, before blindly holding out the glowing artefact that looked tasty enough to eat. Carefully Serah accepted it, ready to apologize for holding them up, when she caught the stern look in Noel's eyes and fell short of her words. "What is it?"

"It's nothing," he said and turned away from her, almost _cold, _though his voice said otherwise. "The day's just taking a toll, nothing to worry about."

"Oh…okay…"

Noel was lying. She could see he wasn't telling her _everything_. Even Mog, who was floating by her, suddenly seemed in less of a perky mood than he was before. But with no more said and Serah unable to bring herself to talk it out of them, the three carried on, while the daylight dwindled from Cocoon and the forest began to take on more dark and sinister shapes.

Their will to survive was stronger as ever, and yet, with even the risk of danger waiting for them at every turn, Serah couldn't let go of what had been bothering her since before the ambush from the Serpentress; the things of which the pair had been ignorantly avoiding.

'_I can tell the difference between fantasy and reality, I'm not like Snow.'_

Why had Noel brought that up, that of all things? Part of Serah already knew the answer, but it was also the part of her that didn't want to admit it too. For the same reasons Serah was sure, Noel was choosing not to bring up anything about what he'd asked her all those hours ago in the clearing.

Or maybe, she really was just losing her mind...

* * *

><p><strong>"What gives you the right to play god with people's lives? Well? Answer me that!"<strong>

"This isn't my doing..."

**"Isn't_ your _doing? You're the cause of all this!"**

"Are you deaf? I just told you, none of this is my doing. I didn't manipulate what their fates were to be. So if you've come here to accuse me of meddling in the affairs of others with these charades, you're barking up the wrong tree."

**"It wasn't you...? Then who? I swear if you know who's behind all this-"**

"I do."

**"Then put a stop to this! Tell me who it is and I'll do it myself!"**

"…I can't."

**"Why the hell not?"**

"Because you wouldn't believe the truth, even if I told you it."


	6. Apple

A/N: This is the longest chapter I've written for Adam & Eve yet, and there will be many things you need to keep an eye out for. Though most of these will be symbolic meanings, one or two will take reference to certain events in the game, while another might ring familiar from something in this story you've already read. Be watchful now, the fan is about to hit the poop.

That said, have fun! And remember to look up once and while when outside. Sometimes the best views in life are right above your head.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Adam &amp; Eve<strong>_

_Chapter 6 - Apple_

* * *

><p><em>In the early weeks of them knowing each other, Serah once asked Snow to join her on a picnic. It was something she and Lightning had done with their parents while they were still alive, and was a tradition between them that was eventually to be left in their childhood once Lightning joined the Guardian Corps. Even then, with Serah being older, they were still the most precious of memories she cherished, and they were ones she had wanted to share with Snow as well, in the hope of creating some new ones.<em>

_But in a moment of panic, Serah had gotten cold feet, and asked Snow instead if he and the four from NORA wanted to go. They had all happily agreed, thinking it would be a wonderful idea, since the weather would be good. So on the day as they arranged, Serah had risen early and prepare plenty of food and drinks for the team, enough that the old picnic basket her parents once used to was stuffed to the full and was heavy as a bag of rocks._

_Serah hadn't been as strong back then in her teens; as such, getting that picnic basket out the house she and Lightning shared had been incredibly difficult. Luckily she hadn't needed to carry it far; because no sooner had Serah set the basket down to lock the front door, had Snow come jogging up those steps and picked it up, giving her a rather bright welcome._

"_The gang had a couple of errands to run, so it'll just be the two of us today if that's alright with you?" he told her when Serah asked what he was doing there. They were meant to meet up at the NORA café as originally planned, along with Gadot; Lebreau; Maqui and Yui. Yet Snow had decided to come see her at her house instead, and alone. _

_Despite their friends cancelling at the last minute, Serah hadn't been too upset about it. If anything, she was a little relieved, because she was finally able to have what she previously planned; her hero all to herself._

_It was much later on however, when they had climbed to the top of hill overlooking Bodhum town, and Serah was laying out the blanket on the grass for them to sit on, that she'd started wondering if the others opted out on purpose. And she had assumed right, because once she and Snow were settled down and he'd been telling her one of his many outrageous stories during his times on neighborhood watch, Serah got a plentiful of orange juice up her nose on spotting a definitive fiery Mohawk; a mop of blue hair and a goggle bearing blond sticking out from some bushes not too far away._

_A couple of errands it seemed had made three of Snow's friends into a couple of stalkers._

"_Careful there, you know you're not supposed to inhale that stuff, right?" Snow chuckled as he'd firmly patted her on the back, until Serah coughed no more. "You okay?"_

_Serah thought about letting Snow know they weren't alone, but she'd held back as soon as that came to mind. If Serah had told him, Snow would've called the men out of hiding, and have allowed the three to join them. Their time together wouldn't be for just them anymore…and Serah couldn't allow that. Just this once, she had wanted to be greedy, to not have anybody else intrude. But she didn't want for them to be spied on neither; and a basket of goodies was just the ploy Serah needed._

"_Yeah, I'm just fine," setting down that glass and wiping the orange juice from her lips, Serah had stood, eagerly grabbing her hero's hands to tug him up, even though she hadn't the strength in her frame to do so. "Come on, let's go."_

"_Go? Go where?" Snow laughed as he got up on her insistence, soon to be led away by hers truly, until Serah was coaxing him into running down that grassy hill. The wind was blowing in her ears as they'd picked up speed, their legs moving so fast Serah thought they would either sprout wings and take flight into the blueness of Cocoon's sky, or tumble over themselves like a couple of clowns. They'd done neither, but the whole way Serah had been giggling having never felt more alive, as if they crooks on the run from the law._

_"Anywhere, silly! Now come on, I'll race you!"_

_She won, although she was sure it was only because Snow let her. By the time they reached the bottom, breathing gingerly as they climbed over the fence, Serah had glanced back from where they'd previously been sitting up on the hill, and smiled triumphantly at seeing Gadot; Yuj and Maqui crouched over the picnic basket, the temptation of free food too irresistible to pass up. _

_Her planned worked._

_They escaped into town, where they spent the whole day together; shopping; going to the carnival; walking along the seafront; and then there had been that movie they'd seen at the cinema that both were kicked out from after starting a huge popcorn throwing contest. Yet regardless, it was the most fun Serah had ever had in the terms of mischief, that even when they were escorted out, she and Snow couldn't stop laughing for nearly an hour afterwards, unable to talk of anything else._

_When the sun had finally set, she and Snow had been on the verge of saying their goodbyes for the evening, when Serah remembered her basket and blanket were still on that hill. Lightning would've killed her for losing things of such sentimental value to them both, so Snow had offered to walk back with her to collect them. What the two hadn't expected however was that a fancy candle lit dinner would be waiting for them, laid out on her picnic blanket; including a pair of champagne glasses and a friendly unopened bottle of lemonade sitting in a bucket of half melted ice, with a note tapped next to it, with the message __**play nice you two**__ signed by The Gang, in Lebreau's handwriting._

"_Might as well not let it go to waste, I'm starving, how about you?" Snow said once both had recovered from the joyful amusement on receiving such a sweet gift from their friends. And in agreement, Serah had joined him, relishing every bite of Lebreau's special home cook meal from the plates they rested on their laps, drinking ice cold lemonade from those champagne glasses that had Serah nearly giggling at every sip._

_And when their stomachs were full and their hearts content, they had laid down on their backs, feet hanging off the end of that blanket onto the soft grass as they had gazed up at Cocoon's sky; the lights of distant cities and towns the only thing to have lit up the night. Those lights __**were**__ their stars, where their wishes went to, because back then, stars were just a myth they had never seen outside of Cocoon. _

_But stars or no stars, they were the most beautiful things Serah had ever seen._

"_Snow, are we a couple?"_

_At the question, her hero propped himself up onto both his elbows, a playful look on his gorgeous face as he hummed rather overdramatically. "Are we a couple? Hmmm…quite the question you have there. Are, we, a couple…?"_

_Serah had sat up, arms crossed over her legs with a smile. "Quit teasing me. Is it really that hard to answer?"_

"_No, no. Now when did I ever say it was a puzzle we couldn't figure out," Snow said, having flashed a toothy grin before returning his focus to wonder of that night. "Suppose we must be. We've done a lot of couply things, and with a dinner for two to boot. Or who knows, maybe we're just incredibly close friends, BFF's with friendship bracelets and all that."_

_Snow had been playing it cool, but safe, because without directly saying it, he was giving Serah the choice back then to choose if she wanted more between them, or if she was happy to continue with the way things were without the need for any disappointment. _

_But of course, Serah already knew what she wanted, and had since he had first convinced her into hanging out with him._

"_I…I like the first one better," She'd confessed, shyly nudging closer. "If you know, you do too…but it's okay if you don't. I mean, I don't mind bracelets if that's what-"_

_Snow's hand cupping one side of her face had soon stopped her nervous babbling, and Serah found herself staring into bluest of blue eyes, her heart beating like the wings of a humming bird as Snow smiled at her; stroking at her cheek. And when he said the words she wanted to hear so much, Serah thought the ground moved from under them._

"_I like the first one better too."_

_They had shared their first kiss that night; a tender moment unspoiled by the quiet cheers and shushes from members of NORA hiding amongst those bushes, until Snow finally called the culprits out. _

_Long after they had said their goodbyes, and Serah having gotten an earful from Lightning for having returned home so late, Serah had still felt like she was in a dream. Her soul floating on a cloud, leaving her body as she'd dropped down on the bed in her room, and sighed in total bliss as she'd stared up at that ceiling, never having felt more in love._

_Even in the naivety of never having been with anyone else, Serah had still believed with all her heart that night that Snow was the one for her. As cheesy as it sounded in her head at the time, she felt like they were destined for each other, that maybe she had found true happiness of the sort many could only wish for in the search for their other half; and Serah was sure, Snow was it._

_Since that night, and the years that followed, when all Serah had was Snow's necklace and their memories to hold onto, those feelings of love never left her heart. And yet…as Serah had stood outside the entrance of The Academy headquarters, with Snow sat on the motorcycle that was the Shiva sisters; while Noel; Hope and Alyssa talked in those hasting preparations and farewells that would have them go on their separate ways, Serah was unable to think of anything else but that special day she and Snow shared three and half years ago._

_That day back on Cocoon, Serah had stolen him away from his friends so they could be together, and here was Snow in the years of the future on Grand Pulse, doing the same as she had once done. But there was no joy or excitement, the magic from her youth had faded, leaving an overbearing burden of emotions that were pinning her down, crushing her while everybody else continued to talk around her as if she didn't exist._

"_Serah, come with me, okay?"_

_And then Snow's voice had rushed through the undercurrents of sound that blocked out everything else in that massive city, and there he was, her hero, waiting for her to take his hand so they could run again, and be together. But Serah was frozen, as if trapped in the spotlight on a stage, and she couldn't remember her lines; not a single one._

_Stiffly, her arm had moved, slowly beginning to reach for her hero. But with every second that their hands came closer to touching, cracks had grown deep within her heart, soon to be torn apart by her own doing…_

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>And has that faith been enough? Neither one of you want to be apart. Yet, here you are, alone."<strong>_**  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"It's okay, I got you."<p>

There was little to no light left in Sunleth. The visibility had gotten so poor that more than once had she or Noel nearly fallen, with Mog even having the misfortune of head butting into several trees and getting tangled in some vines because he'd been flying too fast to spot them. Their options were limited with what they could do, other than to try climbing down and hope they didn't break their necks or bump into any monsters wandering the forest floor below; many of the likes they had heard growling and shrilling somewhere in the ominous black below.

That's when Noel had noticed something not far from them through a parting in the trees; a steep rock-face that rose up high beyond the treetops to a flat peak prominent in that darkening sky. It'd been hard to tell for sure until they'd gotten closer, but once they had, the trio saw the rock-face was climbable and with the last of the sunlight slipping away from them fast, Noel made the decision that they should aim for the submit and set up camp there, where they'd far out of reach from anything of the likes of Serpentress. All they needed to do was just get there.

...

What was it with Noel and _heights_?

"I thought we were supposed to be going down, not up," Serah exclaimed tethering on exhaustion, her feet scrapping against the hardened soil and rocks of that cliff as Noel pulled her up the last of the way.

"Well you know what they say; life has its ups and its downs," he joked, the touch of his hands on her bare arms making Serah shiver as he'd helped her to stand on that small ledge. "You alright?"

"Yeah, sorry. I guess I'm more tired than I thought," Serah said, waiting until he had moved away before looking up from her feet, searching about for their third teammate who was nowhere to be seen. "Hey, where did Mog go?"

"Up here, kupo," came the child like voice, and Serah spotted their magical friend further up the rock-face to their left; his pink jewel radiating as bright as the artefact he held in his paws along with his precious clock staff. "I found an easy way to the top from this side, kupo!"

And Mog as flew over to them, lightning up the steep narrow trail leading up the side of the cliff, they saw he was right.

Well, at least they didn't have to climb anymore.

"Nice one, Mog," Noel praised, already moving forward as he began shimmying his way across, motioning for her to follow. "Careful now."

With a glance look down at the long drop awaiting them, Serah couldn't help grimacing wryly.

"When am I never that?"

It was a relief to reached the top, the trail opening out onto a small grassy plain abloom with flowers of all colors, resembling someone's back garden more than a submit of a steep mountain top. There was a young tree that had managed to take root up here, that's wood no doubt would be valuable in getting a camp fire going. Having a place to rest for the night and keeping warm however weren't their only reasons for being up here. They were here for another purpose too, and if Noel's theory was correct, then perhaps they might be able figure out if other people really were still on Cocoon.

The thing about living on Cocoon being different from Gran Pulse was that the ground curved inwards into a massive sphere instead of outwards. This meant if you knew exactly where to look, you could pinpoint nearly any location on Cocoon simply by looking up. And with the high peaks of that mountain free from anything blocking the trio's views of the surrounding skies, it allowed such pinpointing to be doable.

"Anything look familiar to you?" Noel asked her as Serah scrolled distrait around that plain, her hand clenching at the ghost of her pendent as she took in the spectacular sights from high above their heads.

The shell of Cocoon lands hung dark amongst the deep violet backdrops of Gran Pulse's sky that bore the faint glimmers of stars fazing into existence, no longer blocked out by the power of the Fal'Cie. Identifying the landscapes was hard, given she had not grown up in this part of Cocoon and had never been good even with a simple map of the roads, but in time she recognized a few.

"I think…right above us, that's where Palumpolum is," Serah's eyes wandered to the titan branches of crystal that had consumed nearly all the lands and sea to the far north east. A deep sadness enveloped her. "And over there, that's where the Bodhum used to be, where I was born."

Noel studied each of the land masses carefully, focusing on Bodhum the longest. "What about Nautilus, you said it was to the west of here right?"

"Out from the coast," Serah shifted on her feet, turning to scan the lower regions of Cocoon, to where the forest stretched on for miles. Beyond there Serah could just make it out; the dark waters of an ocean. "Over there! You can't really see it from here because Nautilus is so small, but the coastline is the same as in the maps. That's where we'll find it, I'm sure of it."

"Good, at least we know were on the right track," Noel said pleased at the news, yet Serah couldn't share his enthusiasm. Something was bothering her, and he'd soon caught wind of it. "What's wrong?"

"It's just…" Serah looked and she looked, but everywhere was the same, _exactly _the same. "There isn't any…the lights, they should've come on by now."

Like nearly everything on Cocoon, its electricity had come from the Fal'Cie; as such, street lamps and everything else ran like clockwork. Before she, Snow and the others had moved down onto Grand Pulse, the army had been able to get the power grids operating manually so people weren't forced to stay in the dark ages. Even so, there should've been _something_ by now, but there wasn't. Where there were supposed to be lights from the cities, nothing glowed.

Maybe they weren't really Cocoon, and this was only a shadow of Cocoon, like the shadow of Valhalla. Even if it wasn't, the alternative of being the only ones left on Cocoon sounded just as terrifying as being lost in the Void Beyond.

"Isn't there anybody out there who can help us?" Serah asked brokenly, seeking out for some sort of sign in that sky. Noel said nothing to this, and neither did Mog, and Serah silently worried it was because they didn't have an answer and were just as unsure as she was.

And then suddenly, Noel was calling her.

"Serah, look!"

He was pointing up one of the distant landscapes overhead, just as the region was lighting up like a firework; and one by one by so did other parts of Cocoon follow in this same display as they came alive, shining like the stars themselves. There weren't nearly as many from when Cocoon was inhabited by the millions in the old days, but it put Serah at great peace seeing them, knowing that the home world she was born and raised in wasn't dead just yet. Most importantly, they weren't alone.

Serah's legs gave out as she dropped down onto her knees, a small cry of joy escaping her as fresh hope was born. She could've burst into tears right there and then. "There are people, Noel. There are really people out there!"

"Of course there are. What, you didn't think I'd be wrong did ya?" Noel said close to laughter, the relief on his face just as real as hers as he struck a thumb at his chest. "Don't you know never to doubt a guardian's word? We're _never_ wrong."

"_Trainee_ guardian, Noel," Serah corrected, causing Mog to giggle at the flustered, and very outwitted young man, who eventually smiled in return, resigning himself.

"Fine, trainee guardian then," Noel said.

Though in all their celebrations they still had one problem; Nautilus was still dark. And as for The Gran Elevator, they couldn't distinguish it amongst the many lights near the rims of the crystalized pillar. Still, at least there were lights there for them to be looking at; that was something to be positive about. They still had places they could go, and other people out there they would be able to find when they did. They weren't out of the woods yet by any pun intended, but Serah was glad knowing there was indeed an escape to be sort.

The journey it was going to take them to make such an escape on the other hand, well…

"They're so far away," Serah stood, walking over to beside her friend while they gazed upwards. "How long do you think it'll take to reach one of them?"

Resting a hand on one hip, Noel scratched at his chin as he assessed the distance.

It hadn't taken him long to answer. "A few weeks, perhaps more. It all depends on how much ground we cover and what we encounter on the way."

"A few _weeks_?" Serah nearly felt like collapsing a second time. "It'll really take that long?"

"On foot, yes; but if we're lucky and find some other means of transport, who knows," Noel turned, pointing to the west where the sun had all but faded and no lights shone. "That's why we should keep heading for Nautilus. There may be some equipment or tools left behind from the migration that we can use."

"I see your point, but, Nautilus is a couple miles out to sea. I don't know we could make it that far without a boat," Serah said, looking out at that dark distant ocean. "Besides, it doesn't look like anybody's been there recently to ride our hopes on that now."

Depending on how long Nautilus had been abandoned for, even just for a hundred or fifty years, Serah didn't put her bets high on any boats that were left behind to be seaworthy at the docks. She wasn't sure what conditions the trains would be in either, and with how high those rails went off the ground, would they even be safe to walk on after lacking maintenance after all this time? Those things had already run into disuse in her era when airships became the more popular means of travel, because even those trains had used Fal'Cie power as well.

Suddenly their plan wasn't looking watertight, especially Nautilus being in a blackout.

"Didn't you say there was a small port town on the coast tied to it? With shops; tourist stuff, that kind of thing?" Noel inquired, recounting what she had told him about her visit there as a child after he'd wanted to know more about this so called amusement park that was solely built for fun.

Serah scratched her cheek, "They were mostly gift stores if I'm correct. Not really what you would call a town. But there were hotels and a few restaurants too."

"Do you remember anything else?" Noel urged. "Think now, it may be important."

She strained her memory, flipping through those old mental pictures that had become worn and faded over the years. Serah had only been around five or six at the time when she visited Nautilus with her family, but she still remembered the warmth from her father's hand holding hers as they had hopped off the train onto the station platform; the sugar addicted look in her sister's eyes at eating the flower shaped candy floss their parents bought them both. And then, she remembered the boredom of sitting on her mother's lap as they had waited for the next boat to arrival to take them to Nautilus, all while Lightning was taking snapshots with her camera…at…at men in armor, and strange towers in the distance.

Wait!

"There were watchtowers! Near where this long electric fence was that ran around the perimeter," Serah clamped her hands together, smiling. "And soldiers, I'm pretty sure I saw some of them too."

"So it must've been guarded to protect civilians from the monsters out here, and stop any getting in," Noel said. "Makes sense…"

"Exactly," Serah nodded. "This whole area used to be nature reserve for wild life. The last thing they would want is tourists wandering off into it. And if there were soldiers here at one time, we might be able to find a weapon in one of those towers or anything they might've left behind. They're worth checking out."

"Then that settles it, we should head to Nautilus port," Noel said, a confident smile growing strong on his face. "It's the closest landmark to us for miles, and at a guess it'll only take a day or so hike to reach. Better we see first what we can salvage in that port, before we go anywhere else."

Serah smiled, and spoke. "Right, and maybe if we can get the power up and running again, there could be a phone or radio we could use to make contact with someone out there. We might not have to risk that long a journey at all!"

Yes, they could do this. So long as they were careful and didn't draw Serpentress to them again, they could reach the Nautilus port. Serah had no idea if the generators there would still be functioning to dial a number or use a radio to call for help, but weapons; clothes; bags; _anything_ left over would help them a great deal in making that crossing through the wilderness easier. Serah would take anything at this point.

"I like the sound of that, kupo!" Mog said cheerfully doing a skillful backflip, without so much as dropping the artefact.

"A full house, it is then. We'll move out first light," Noel said, as he looked out at the darkened domain by the ocean adamantly. "Shouldn't be that too difficult of a trip, so long as our snake friend doesn't show up"

"Yeah," Serah rubbed her arms as the cold breeze nipped at her skin, the temperature steadily dropping as Cocoon began losing the heat from the sun's embrace. "Compared to everything else, this should be a walk in the park."

Far beyond the boundaries of time, Lightning needed their help. If they didn't make it to her side; if Caius won the battle with her sister, what would happen then? Would helping Hope get the graviton cores for the new Cocoon still be enough to save the future that Yeul asked of them to protect? Would Caius let them finish? Or did he still intend to kill them all for the sanctity of the timeline? Her; Noel and Mog, the three being just being together right now was a violation; something that shouldn't be happening, just like Lightning shouldn't have been written out of history three years ago. They were corrupting the timeline, just simply by _existing _with each other in one single place.

'_This silence makes me nervous. He's always been quiet before taking action. It's like, the calm before the storm.'_

What Noel said on being uncertain if Caius was on their side or not rang true, but no matter what the guardian was up to, Serah couldn't shake her suspicions of Caius, and if he might've still played some part in their group ending up here in Sunleth Waterscape. And how could she not be suspicious when he was fighting her Lighting for yet unclear motives, and after having nearly killed them in Oerba. But then, there was the dream she'd had when passing out in the Augusta Tower as well; the dream in which where she had seen her and Noel fighting the immortal guardian in Valhalla, and the deadly monster he had transformed into; a dragon that's flaming breath consumed them both...

Her dream from that tower, was it destined to happen? Were they going to die in Valhalla? Or would they meet their end here in Sunleth Waterscape instead? Either way, Serah had to believe they had the power to change their fates. It had already gotten them this far.

'_To change history is a sin.'_

But, would every decision they make be for the right one, or were they only prolonging the inevitable…?

* * *

><p>It was weird not being able to use magic to start a fire. Serah remembered that first night they camped out on their journey, how Noel had been using a piece of flint and steel from his waist pack to make sparks on the timber he gathered. The winds on that cool evening had been strong back then, making it difficult for him to keep that tiny flame from going out before it could take hold. As soon as he had asked for her help in gaining some cover, the hunter had tumbled back agasp from where he'd been crouched when Serah lit up that that piece of timber and the logs wood piled beneath it with one single Fire spell. The look on Noel's face had been priceless, especially for someone who came from a time where humans didn't wield magic.<p>

How Serah wished she could do that again, but neither could, and Noel was without his flint and steel. It didn't stop him though; it seemed the hunter from 700AF was more of a survivor than Serah could've imagined. He knew more than one way to get a fire going, and once they had collect enough branches that they had broken off from that small lone tree on that submit, Noel had gotten to work. He'd used dried out grass for timber and the friction of two sticks he carved indents into with the sharp ends of some rocks, along with some good old elbow grease to get the job done. And before Serah knew it, the three of them were warming themselves by a fire, at last finding relief from the cold night.

Though comfort they had gained, they were still lacking in other needs. Serah's throat was already feeling dry again, and the loud gurgles from her stomach constantly reminded her that the breakfast they had shared with Hope and Alyssa before setting off through the Time Gate, had all but been burned off.

A human could survive three weeks without food, but three days without water. How long would they last on leaving Sunleth Waterscape, if they weren't able to find the means to carry any food or water with them in Nautilus port?

Nothing was going to be easy and simple, it seemed.

"I'm so hungry…"

Since the nakedness of their bodies was still a problem, they agreed on sitting with their backs to each other by that campfire. Unfortunately this came at the cost of only one side of Serah receiving more heat than the latter without her back taking the blunt of the cold night, but it would have to do. She was surprised Noel was even willing sacrifice some body heat to allow her to feel less awkward over their nudity situation. Though truth be told, it wasn't bothering her as much now; at least, not as bad as before. Not that she really favored the idea of Noel checking her out just yet.

Serah missed wearing clothes.

Peering over her shoulder, she waited for her friend to reply to what she had previously said, but got none.

"Noel?" Lightly Serah gave his back a nudge. "_Noel?_"

She felt him flinch at the contact, inhaling sharply through his nostrils.

"Say what?" Noel sounded drowsy.

Rubbing at her legs that were caked in itchy dried mud, Serah grimaced. "I'm sorry, did you drift off?"

"Uh, no I was, just resting my eyes for a bit," the young man coughed unconvincingly to clear the grottiness from his voice. "You say something?"

"It was nothing much really," Serah stared down in envy at the apple shaped artefact on her lap that she wanted to gobble up. "I just, said I was hungry..."

It wasn't like they hadn't been searching for food. There wasn't much fruit around for the group to pick and anything they did find didn't look safe to enough eat, and given in Noel's time most plants were extinct, he too wasn't much help in that department. He could hunt, but it didn't do him much good without the weapons to do so, and on experimenting with Mog some more they discovered their worst fears confirmed, because no matter how often they attempted it, the moogle's sword form would disappear on the blade's contact anything, as would his bow form when trying to fire an arrow.

Serah wished they hadn't turned down Hope's offer of those free cupcake coupons. Heck, if she had known they wouldn't be eating well for a while, she'd have wolfed down a whole supply of cupcakes than worry about her weight.

"Well if you've got no objections, I don't mind sharing Mog between us," Noel suggested and Serah had to cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing as not to wake the snoozing moogle down by her feet.

"Noel," she warned.

"Fine, fine" He said, taking the hint. "You're probably right anyway; Bobble Head wouldn't make that much of a meal come to think of it-"

Serah rammed her elbow into his back again, smiling, "Not another word you, or I'll feed you to the Miniflans."

"Better than Serpentress I guess, but alright," Noel said playfully, still it rang of the bleak reminder of what could've been reality only hours before. And though Serah knew Noel was joking, she couldn't imagine getting desperate enough to eat Mog. The moogle was practically family to her now, that the thought of living without him saddened her.

The same for Noel too…

Serah shook her head, "Anyway those rocks you found; can't we use them for something?"

"Like hunting? I could try and fashion ourselves a spear or two maybe," Noel said, the clinking of rocks sounding from behind her as he was rolling them in his palm. "But uh…"

"But what?" Serah asked.

The clinking stopped. "Well, put it this way; sticks and stones won't break any bones. I'd need something stronger than the branches that tree over there's got to offer, and something sharper to carve the wood better with, or else the best food we'll catching are mosquitos."

Serah cringed. "Meaning there's not much you can do until we reach Nautilus port, is there?"

"Nope," she heard those rocks skid across the dirt into the grass beyond it as Noel chucked them away. "Damn, what I wouldn't give to have my hunting knife right about now."

Setting the artefact down, Serah hugged her mud stained legs. "What I wouldn't give for some underwear..."

"Hm…can't catch much with those…"

"Yeah, you're probably right…"

…

Serah snorted, unable hold in her laughter no longer, and she was soon joined by Noel who gave a stifled chuckle from behind her. It wasn't even really that funny a thing, so why the vast difference of their wishes struck them hilarious to the point they were soon in stitches Serah wasn't sure, and really, she didn't care. After the day they'd been through, it felt good just to be able to laugh again, and be themselves.

They both needed it.

"The treasure is all mine, kupo," Mog mumbled blissfully in his sleep as Serah and Noel quickly hushed up again. Failing to stir from his deepest dreams, the moogle snuggled his stubby arms around himself, and continued to sleep on like a baby.

The clock staff resting by Mog's head read ten minutes midnight exactly.

It was that late already?

"We better get some rest. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Noel said, thinking on the same wavelength as her.

"Yeah, it's probably best we do," Serah said, tilting her head over one shoulder. "Do you want me to take the first shift? I don't mind staying up on watch for a bit."

"Nah, it's fine. I got it cover," Noel insisted, but he sounded more exhausted than her, enough that Serah was sure that if she could see his face right now, he would be struggling to keep his eyes open. The day had taken a beaten out of all of them, if Mog was anything to go by.

"Honestly, I don't feel like sleeping just yet. I've got too much on my mind," Serah said, hoping he didn't hear her fighting off a yawn. "Go to sleep, Noel. I'll wake you in a few hours, and you can take over then."

"Hm…alright, but be sure to keep the fire burning, and wake me if you hear _**anything**_; the same deal if you're about to doze off," Noel warned as he stood up.

"Like you, you mean?" Serah teased.

"Yeah, like me," Noel said, too tired to deny it as he sat himself down on the other side of the campfire. Assured his back was to her and that he didn't lay on his badly cut shoulder that looked to be healing well, he settled himself down on that dry, hard dirt; not making as much as a fuss.

Despite how jolly Noel sounded, he looked uncomfortable laying there. "Well, see ya in a few hours I guess."

"I guess…goodnight…"

* * *

><p><em>Serah hated Academia at night. It reminded her too much of the Academia from the alternate time, when bodies laid twisted and bloody in the streets from the wrath of the Proto fal'Cie. Sitting on that step outside Academy headquarters long after midnight reawakened the horrors of that time, but they were a mere whisper to the other things had been haunting Serah as she had tried not to cry.<em>

_They had finally collected all the Graviton Cores needed for the new Cocoon. In doing so, the trio had returned to Academia to deliver them to Hope and Alyssa, to ensure the future mankind needed to survive. This hadn't been the full reason however why Serah had wanted to make a hasty retreat to the city; or why she had walked those few strides faster on emerging from the gate. The answer to why she was in such a hurry was because she'd wanted to see Snow again. He'd promised her after all, that they would talk when she came back, once every crystal was found._

_Serah wanted that promise to be fulfilled, that during every day of their mission spent tracking down the Graviton Cores, she'd been desperate to just turn around and go back through those Time Gates to that city, and meet with Snow sooner. She kept thinking if she could do that, then she could make everything again right as it __**should **__be; to say the things she never got the chance to. But at the same time Serah had been dreading it, afraid of what would happen when she would at last come face-to-face with her hero._

_Sadly the news Hope broke to her when they finally got there, was one that hadn't been welcomed…_

"_What, what do you mean Snow's not here!?"_

_A few people working the nightshift within the room of that research facility had fallen quiet, some looking puzzled over at the group, with the security guards at the door looking especially watchful. The hum of those machines sounded unbearably loud as Hope stood before her, wavering at the outcry Serah had given, before a mix pity and compassion filled in that hesitation. _

"_I'm sorry, Serah. It's as I said. Snow left this morning without any implications that he would, and he hasn't been seen anywhere in the city since."_

_Serah's hands had tightened at the ends of her dress to stop them from shaking. "Not anywhere in the city? You're saying he's been __kidnapped?__"_

_Hope had shaken his head. "No, we don't believe so. The room he had with us within the Academy was searched and none of his personal belongings were found there, and nothing to imply there was any form of a struggle. His Eidolons haven't been sighted neither. We suspect he went of his own accord."_

"_Meaning Snow might no longer be in this time period anymore," Noel noted sullenly beside her._

"_So he just…left?" Serah had looked at the two men hopelessly. "But, but the assassin, I thought-"_

"_That was done and dealt with," Alyssa said while having rolled her head to one side, crossing her arms. "Or more like a complete waste of time, if you ask me."_

"_What Alyssa means is we took the measures to ensure no assassination could be carried out, and Snow didn't abandon his post as my personal bodyguard until long after that time passed," Hope said swiftly, and had bowed his head in respect. "I apologize, the blame is all mine for not being more lenient. Believe me Serah, if I had known Snow would take off I would've stopped him, for yours sakes."_

_She hadn't been unable to say anything, little less tell Hope that it wasn't his fault. In truth it was nobody's fault but her own. She had only herself to blame for pushing Snow away. Serah had rejected him, and as far as she could tell, Snow no longer wanted anything more to do with her._

_It was the price Serah had to pay..._

"_Are you alright?" Noel asked when he had come to join her and Mog outside the Academy, scarcely a minute after Serah had walked out without saying a word. She'd barely the energy to nod as Noel had sat down on the step with Mog between them as the trio stared out at the dark city where those cars soared overhead.  
><em>

_The stinging in Serah's eyes had grown worse on looking to the place a few feet away in front of them where Snow had been parked on his motorcycle nearly a week before; resting her head in hers hands at picturing his handsome face twisted in so much anger._

_And she deserved it; she deserved everything that she'd gotten._

"_Why did he lie, Noel?" Serah asked, feeling sick with herself and every fiber of her being. "He said he'd stay, he promised…"_

_Noel had looked at her with a deeper shade of the remorse than Hope had shown. There'd been something else there too, like the young man was on the edge of speaking, as if to give words of encouragement; false hopes they might find her hero again maybe, or perhaps it wasn't that at all. Whatever it was, Serah never found out, for Noel didn't say much else during their whole time sat out there together with Mog. Only by that cold breeze picking up, and the trio being in much need of rest, were they finally coaxed into turning in._

_That next day, the Time Gate in the square was functioning properly. And Alyssa, she had happily handed them the artefact found lying next to it that would activate the portal. Yet even up until the last second before they jumped through; before their nightmare in Sunleth Waterscape began, Serah had kept looking back, searching through the crowds, hoping that Snow would show up._

_He never did._

* * *

><p><em><strong>"We've come too far, to quit now…"<br>**_

* * *

><p>Serah had done as Noel asked, occasionally stoking the fire and adding more wood to the flames. It was nothing new from what Noel had taught her in the past, since Serah had never once camped out before their adventures together. Making sure that the fire kept going felt no different than all the other times she had done this as if going through the motions; with the exceptions of course neither her or Noel were this naked; hungry; thirsty and muddier than muddy puppies. But, such was life; unpredictable in its many forms.<p>

Staring at the campfire for long periods became sore on her eyes after a while, and thus soon averted them to the glimmering diamonds in both the night's sky, and upon certain regions of Cocoon's dark shell. Serah didn't look away once as she laid herself down, shivering at the contact that cold soil had on her back. It was near impossible to relax, her body feeling stiff and sore all over from their rough trek through the forest, and having nearly gotten killed at that. And just as it was impossible to relax, so was Serah unable to find peace in those beacons of lights high above her. They only reminded her how far way they were from reaching safety, and too of happier times missed.

Serah remembered it, how her and Snow used to do this; go out to the hill where they shared their first kiss and stargaze up at the lights of cities from far away. When they did, they had talked about all sorts of random things, but more often than not, they had talked about the future as well.

Back then, Serah had plans to go to Eden University to gain a degree, something her sister encouraged in order to make something of herself. It was all done and paid for, and she was due to leave at the end of summer. Yet, there Serah had been with Snow, the two of them creating their dreams of travelling together across the four corners of Cocoon; delaying, if abandoning her education altogether for an adventure beyond those she'd find in studies and textbooks within a classroom. As far as she and Snow were concerned of in those moments of wishful thinking, the world was their limit, and the rebellion in Serah wanted to do it, to escape and see what life had to offer.

That rebellion cost her dearly when the temptation to explore made her venture into the Bodhum Vestige, and of her own reckless doing, became a l'Cie. Three days afterwards, Snow had proposed to her, and the rest of what came after, was history...

It'd been three whole months Serah had known Snow before he had asked for her hand in marriage that night of the Bodhum festival. It might've seemed hasty for some, but even with death looming over her, Serah knew it what she wanted with all her heart. She was in love with him, and through the tragedy and despair they endured, their love had remained strong. Even in her time in crystal, Serah longed to be set free again and live those countless dreams she had of their marriage for real.

The roses of those memories where love bloomed had long since become riddled in thorns, pricking her every time she recalled them. But Serah missed those days, she missed Snow. To be able to leap through a portal to find her hero again, if it meant for him to stay with her, Serah would do anything for that. Anything would be worth it, if it meant Snow didn't have to look at her way he had that day…

Who was she kidding though? Not herself, and definitely not Snow. Dreaming would get her nowhere, because even if she could do all that and go back and change things, it still wouldn't change how she felt inside. Serah regretted everything, but she knew Snow had every right to be angry. She had betrayed him, and everything they had fought for. If he ever wanted to see her again, then…he had every right to that as well. But she thought at least he would've fought for her, for them _both_, instead of leaving without the chance for resolve.

Had Snow really given up on her? Or did something else make him leave?

Curling up onto her side to preserve more of her body heat, Serah gazed over where the hunter from 700 years in her future laid fast asleep. He was still turned away from her, the glow of the flames from that campfire flicking bronze off his muddy skin, outlining the prominent muscles of his back as the wind gently ruffled his brunet hair.

The paradoxes of the timeline had brought them all together, setting everything in motion the day her sister was snatched away.

Was it possible, her feelings were part of a paradox too…?

Unable to rest, Serah at last sat up, leaving the artefact behind as she crawled around that campfire to the young man's side. Disarmed by the sight of his sleeping face that left thinking twice on waking him, Serah didn't let that stop her as she had taken him by the shoulder, giving him a shake.

"Noel, hey Noel?"

He woke in a heartbeat, those bleary eyes quickly becoming alert as if expecting the worst. But with Serah not rushing to warn him of any dangers, and her actions lacking any urgency in them, he must've assumed otherwise.

"Ugh, that time already?" Noel asked tiredly, oblivious that he had been sleeping for no more than an hour at most. It wasn't his time to stand watch yet, but Noel remained unaware of that as he prompt himself up, rubbing his face in an attempt to wake himself faster.

Serah watched him, feeling it in her bones that she couldn't stay silent forever. Certains things had been bothering her for much too long to do that; that she was already blurting it out, before she lost her nerve.

"You were talking about you and Snow weren't you?"

Noel tipped his head in her direct, confusion flaring up. "Serah?"

He hadn't caught on yet, given she'd come out with it from nowhere and he had only just woken up. But Noel figured it out soon enough, once Serah continued, her words almost rushing out as if fearing he would interrupt before she had time to finish.

"Back in the clearing you asked me what was more important to me, fantasy or reality. But that's not what you meant at all, was it?" Her pulse wild, Serah pressed a hand to her chest where her pendant remained lost. "I think...that, you were asking me to choose."

The confusion on Noel's face was gone, and like a book he slammed himself shut, refusing to let her read between those pages. An unsettling silence befell them as he looked away, resting an arm up on one knee as he scratched the back of his head.

It took Noel forever to speak again. "Serah…it really isn't the time for this."

Curiosity drove Serah forward. "Then, why did you bring it up earlier? Why say _anything?_"

"Because we didn't have a giant snake on our tails for one, and because…" Noel didn't finish, as if he wasn't able to. Lack of sleep had nothing to do with it, for Noel sounded more awake than he ever was, if a little sharp in his tone. "Do we really have to do this now?"

Underneath it all he was asking her to let it go, almost _begging _her to. Noel didn't like being interrogated or pushed into a cornered, he never had. Even with that in mind, Serah was sure that it wasn't anger, but maybe fear that was getting him defensive.

Noel had something to hide.

Rather than back down, she changed her tactic. "Then, can you at least tell me one thing?"

The young man tilted his head, but Serah didn't wait for a cue to continue. "What was the real reason Snow left Academia?"

When had been retiring to the quarters they shared within the academy that night, after the test results of the Gravitation Core fragments came up positive in being ideal candidates to levitate the new Cocoon, Hope had caught up with them in the hallway just as they were about to board the elevator.

'_May I speak with you alone in private?'_

The thing was Hope hadn't been addressing the trio, but Noel. Hope ensured her it was nothing of great importance, and with Noel persuading her and Mog to go on without him, Serah had listened and stepped into the elevator with the moogle; warily seeing both the director and her time travelling companion off up until the last second as those doors sealed shut.

Noel was gone for some time, but when he had finally returned, quietly slipping into their quarters, his mood had changed. He'd looked agitated, as if someone had crossed paths with him and not in a good way. And not once in Serah acknowledging his presence while Mog slept peacefully in the bed next to her; did Noel meet her eyes.

'_Are you okay?'_

He'd crossed the room, sitting down at his own bed as he'd gone about removing his waist pack and hunter's knife, before taking off his shoes. Yet still, he hadn't looked at her, that sour mood not leaving him until he'd woken the next day.

'_Yeah, everything's fine.'_

Things weren't alright though. When Serah asked what he and Hope had discussed that night, Noel hadn't told her. He had given her the excuse that it was a personal matter, but nothing that she should consider worrying about. But Serah doubted every word of it, for what was so unimportant that Hope had only wanted to talk to Noel about, and without her present?

There was only one answer she could think of.

"See, I know Snow. He wouldn't have gone off like that, not without saying anything first. No matter how much time passed after Hope's life was saved, Snow would've stayed around for him, _and_ for us, because he always one to keep his word. It's not in him to go breaking promises like that," pained, Serah peered at the crystal globe of the artefact resting on the other side of the campfire, the red apple residing in it looking as though it were trapped within the flames. "That's why, I think Hope was lying about what he said…but, I also think, that he told you what really happened."

"…"

"Noel-"

"It doesn't matter," the young man said, reminiscent of what he'd spoken the night before in Academia. "Trust me on that, it's not important."

"Then if it's not important, why not tell me?" Serah asked hopeful, only to be taken by surprise when Noel suddenly stood up and swiftly marched some paces away from her and that campfire, though not straying too far from its warmth. She could see he was looking over at that young tree that shared that small garden with them atop the highest point in Sunleth; at least, it felt like a garden.

Noel's expression was gaunt. "I _can't_."

"You can't say, or you don't want to?" Serah asked, rising from the ground.

The hands at Noel side clenched; his knuckles near white. "Both."

"But why?"

**"Because it's not what you want to hear!"**

The bobble of the sleeping moogle perked up as he woke with a start by the outburst; the same outburst that left Serah shaken for Noel had never gotten this angry at her before. He rarely ever got mad, for the last time he'd ever yelled at someone like that, had been the fake Caius taunting them, and before that...Snow.

Noel was haste to back down on noticing he'd gone too far; taking the time to cool himself off. But when he finally spoke, she could hear how much it was taking him not to lose it with her again. "You're better off not knowing, Serah. Just, take my word for it."

"Noel…"

It was like they were balancing on a knife's edge, cutting through what couldn't be undone. It was painfully sharp to the point of insufferable. Serah wanted to take it all back and put it behind them, and at the same time, she couldn't let herself succumb to that; to pretend nothing happened like Noel had been doing since his question to her in the clearing.

She was tired of these games.

The flames of that campfire crackled, embers drifting up into the night like dying fireflies. Nobody said anything the whole time, not even the poor moogle whom looked between the two humans at a loss for what had transpired.

Uncertain on where to go from then on, Serah's focused on the artefact, studying the lone red apple floating in the middle; protected in a round the bubble that kept it safe…like a bird locked within its cage.

Soon Serah found her voice again.

"Did I ever tell you I'm afraid of the ocean?"

It must've sounded random and so out of the blue with how she'd said it; and at the silence to follow, Serah nearly gave into it.

But she kept going.

"It's silly right? I've lived nearly my whole life by the sea, but I'm scared of it; terrified in fact. I can't go any further into the water than up to my waist. Any more than that, and I start panicking. I guess I get scared, that I'll be washed out sea and disappear, and nobody will ever find me again," Serah stopped for a moment, bending down to pick up the artefact that she cradled close to her as if it were a doll. "It's because I nearly drowned when I was little. See, I swam out too far from the shore and I wasn't a good swimmer. If it hadn't been for Lightning, I probably wouldn't be here talking to you right now."

She remembered it too well, how she'd been choking on the seawater in her lungs, splashing around frantically trying to stay afloat as she'd cried out for help. The waves were strong for a girl her age, and kept pulling her under, again and again. And when Serah had lost hope, too weak to fight anymore, a pair of arms had reached down into the swirling waters and lifted her up to the surface; helping her to breathe again.

Lightning had saved her life that day, never letting go once as she'd swum ashore; continuing to hold her affectionately as Serah had burst into a fit of sobs on the beach afterwards, clinging to Lightning for dear life after being afraid she would die.

'_You stupid girls! You could've been…I could've…Don't ever do that to me again!'_

Their Mom was furious after she learnt what happened. They weren't supposed to have gone, since she'd told them not to, but they had disobeyed, wanting to enjoy the last of their summer before they went back to school. So they had left early, creeping out in their blue and pink bathing suits, with their little plastic buckets and shovels in one hand, and their beach towels clutched in the other. Little did they know however their mother was to wake early too, and had been given a scare of her life on discovering both her daughters missing.

Nearly drowning, had been just the icing on the cake.

"When Mom found out, she didn't let us ever go swimming again. Wherever we went, she always had to be a step behind, and rarely let us out of her sight unless she had to. We'd lost Dad a few years before, and after what happened, well…I think she was afraid of losing us too," Serah fought to hold off the tears as she ran her fingers slow and gentle over the crystal sphere of the artefact radiating a mystic glow in that night. "My sister was the same. When Mom died, Lightning took a lot of responsibilities onto herself, trying to be the watchful parent to me than a sister. She looked out for me a lot; helped me with my studies; told how to dress…that's probably why I never had a boyfriend before Snow. Lightning was always scaring off any guy that so much as looked at me. Heh, she could be pretty intimidating at times, you know?"

Glancing over, Serah saw Noel wasn't as tensed up anymore; his knuckles no longer white. But he still wouldn't talk, or acknowledge he was listening, even though she was certain he was taking in single thing that she was saying.

Serah didn't let it deter her.

"Ever since The Purge ended nearly three years ago, my friends have been just as protective. Not just because of Lightning and Snow being gone, but other reasons too," The flowers brushing at her ankles as she stepped over from the soil onto the soft grass, Serah recited the words she had heard more than once from the bitterest of hearts. "I'm the l'Cie that caused The Purge and destroyed so many lives, reduced Cocoon to what is it…moving down onto Grand Pulse; finding a place by the ocean, Snow didn't do it just so we could rebuild the town we'd lost. He wanted to get me away from all that; roll me in cotton wool."

They'd both been getting death threats, both her and Snow and the others for being the l'Cie that killed Orphan, Most of the hate was taken out on her, because she'd made the mistake, she'd been the one to start it all. Thus so, Serah was the one that those whom were victim of The Purge liked to take their anger out on. Only people who had lived in Bodhum, and who were willing enough to come along with the once _blessed_ l'Cie, had chosen to join them in their dream for a better life on Pulse.

They had worked together to build their own homes; shops and schools, even designing the NORA house to be near identical to the NORA café they had lost on Cocoon. Pretty soon, many were learning how to grow fruit and vegetables and to catch fish. Everything the fal'Cie had done for them, they figured out to do for themselves. It was a nerving but empowering too, in figuring it all out. And after a year they weren't relying as much on provisions being delivered from Cocoon to survive anymore, and the army was no longer needed once the fences and proper training was given to the villagers to protect them all from the monsters.

Many saw it as a paradise, and for Serah it was that too. She loved being a school teacher to the children in their village; spending her time growing and picking the fruits and vegetables she and Lebreau would often add into a dessert or stew for the gang; but most importantly, she just loved being with the people who cared about her most, and she to them. Yet the thing was, New Bodhum was her _only_ paradise, the only place where she felt accepted enough to belong. And even in that village falling short of being called her perfect heaven, the guys at NORA were constantly kept tabs on her; fearful that an outsider might do her harm or try to lure her away.

It was no wonder her friends had been so suspicious of Noel. They must've thought him to be the same as The Purge victims who had come in search of New Bodhum with the intent to seek justice, like the dozen others had done so in the past. Not that NORA knew she was aware of that. They must've always thought she was in her room or at the school teaching the children whenever a grief stricken widow or widowers came the village boarder; like the group of armed men she had seen demanding to kill l'Cie that ruined their lives, as if taking her taking her life would make everything better for them…

The smiles and joy from her friends, they were just a disguise to what was really going on behind the scenes.

Serah fell short of her steps, stopping within reaching distance of her friend who kept to that silence that she couldn't bear. A strength inside giving the courage needed, Serah edged forward, closing that short distance between her and Noel as she walked steadily around from where he previously had his back to her, and came to stand directly in front of him.

Surprised by her gratuitous actions, Noel squirmed under Serah's gaze on being pressurized into looking at her. But even with her damning the oath she made him vow his life to, Noel still choose to divert his eyes away.

No wonder she cared about him so much, he was just too nice.

"I've had to grow up being protected by everyone I love. My Mother; Lightning; Snow…I'm tired of being treated like a child, of things being kept from me because people don't think I can handle it, well I can!" the expression changed on Noel's face at her words, a sadness lingering in his eyes behind that mask of crafted emotions Serah couldn't read. One hand falling away from the artefact, lightly she grasped at Noel's wrist, grateful when he didn't make an attempt to wrench it away. "I know you're trying to protect me, but I don't need it. I just want the truth, Noel. Is there something I should know?"

Noel had been hiding something ever since his talk with Hope, and perhaps even much longer than that. She had learned to read him so well by now on journeying with him day in, day out. Still, there was so much that remained hidden in the shadows, things he wouldn't let her see. And at that moment Serah could see his brain working; pondering over the very secrets that was being hidden from her.

Serah needed to know what they were. She had to know if her suspicions were true and that her mind wasn't just playing tricks. There was too much at stalk for her to risk losing another person in her life on being wrong.

But perhaps, some things were just better left unsaid.

"Tell me something first," Noel's expression was almost like steel, though not quite; those eyes of his shining esoteric in the light of the artefact glowing between them like a lantern. Serah's adrenaline jumped up a notch as in that single glance, Noel willingly met her gaze for the very first time since their ordeal, before the moment itself passed and he looked away once again, shutting his eyes.

It seemed like forever until Noel opened them again. "Why did you stay?"

"Why did I…Noel what are you-"

"Don't play dumb with me, Serah. You're too smart for that game," Noel's voice was both soft, yet demanding, "You and I both know what I'm talking about."

'_Serah! Serah wait!'_

'_No! Please, just go away!'_

'_Serah-'_

'_Leave me alone!'_

She let go of Noel's wrist, as if he'd given her an electric shock, and nearly choked. "Why, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Because you haven't been the same since Snow turned up on the Academy doorstep," Noel said, watching her carefully from where he was as Serah found herself unable to face him. "Snow gave you a chance to go with him and you took off like a shot. You two come back, and the next thing I'm hearing the game plan's changed and everyone else's fine and dandy at carrying on as usual like nothing ever happened."

Serah shook her head in denial. "But, it was nothing."

"_Really_? Because it sure didn't look like nothing to me. Not with the way you and Snow were shouting at each other," Noel remarked.

A feeling of panic rising in her stomach, Serah looked at the young man in shock. "You, you _saw_ us?"

He shrugged. "How couldn't I? Come on Serah, with the show the two of you were putting on, I'm not surprised if all of Academia noticed."

Noel had seen them fighting? What had he heard? _Had_ he heard anything? She'd been so upset at the time she hadn't thought he; Hope and Alyssa were able to hear them from all the way from the Academy entrance. And it wasn't like they'd been hiding their argument from the group with their body language; her and Snow's emotions had been too all over the place to consider that.

And Noel, he'd always been good at picking up on that stuff; to know when someone was angry or in distress.

"The Serah I met in New Bodhum, no, she wouldn't have done that. Goddess knows she'd of jumped at an opportunity to be with the fiancé she waited three years for and named a cat after, of all things," Noel said, his passive aggression rising as the control on his temper began to unhinge again. "So you tell me Serah, what changed? What are you still doing here?"

The day she and Snow were supposed to run away together, Serah had run away from him...

If she had taken Snow's hand, if she had chosen to go with him, would it have been Noel alone who that would've gone through the gate in Academia and become trapped here? But after the reunion with her hero, it was she and Snow who were going to collect the Graviton Cores. No matter how much longer or less time it would've taken them, Serah was sure they would've stuck around long enough for that gate to fully repair itself, just out of curiosity for where it would lead.

'_What are you still doing here?'_

That's not what Noel had meant. Even if she'd gone with Snow, inevitably it might've been her and Snow, or maybe all four of them to have gone through the gate instead; not Noel on his own.

No, what Noel was asking her, was what she still doing here, _with him._

Serah looked to Mog silently for help, praying the moogle would intervene or back her up somehow. Mog didn't though. He just floated there, keeping well back as he anxiously twisted the gem on the end of that staff, like he knew he couldn't stop them, or shouldn't. And what was she to expect? After all the pushing Serah had done into forcing Noel for answers, now he was just returning the favor.

"I couldn't go…" She held the artefact close, trying her hardest not to cry. "Is that what you want to hear? I couldn't go!"

"And why is that?" Noel quizzed, those piercing blue eyes making her feel more naked than she already was, as if her deepest thoughts were being stripped away and exposed. "Far as I can tell, you had plenty of reasons to."

He was right; she did have plenty of reasons, but instead she had chosen to abandon the man she was engaged to; refused Snow's offer. No, Snow never _offered_ her anything in reality. He never gave her the chance to say yes or no to any choice. He just came out of nowhere and expected her to go with him without any hesitation or thought left for doubt. Even so, Serah shouldn't have needed reasons for either, but she had.

"It's complicated, you wouldn't understand," Serah turned away, futilely shaking her head even more. "Not any of it!"

And when she expected retaliation; for Noel's patience to snap completely…that hand of his gently fell over her shoulder; the warmth of his touch having the same impact on Serah as if Noel had struck her, even though she knew he would never dare do such a thing to her.

With no hostility in the gesture, lightly there his hand stayed until Serah could finally bring herself to look at him again. When she did, she saw every inch of Noel's face was gripped with sternness, so serious it unnerved her. He was seeking something in her; that need to find it fueling his words as he spoke, challenging her.

"Try me."

Serah's instinct was to back away, to shove his hand off her and yell at him for all that he'd done to her. Yet those thoughts succeeded in nothing than blurring her vision with tears, bringing her that bit closer to breaking down right there in front of him.

She couldn't do this, not here. She was wrong to bring it up, to say anything! Serah couldn't tell him; didn't know what exactly what it was she _could_ say to him. All she knew she that it wasn't the right time. Serah wasn't ready-

"Kupo!?"

Something suddenly moved across her vision, like ripples on water, bringing with it the strange sensation of a hot air. Bewildered Serah quickly wiped her tears away, but the ripples kept coming, rupturing the land and air from all around that small submit. It was as if Serah were peering into the jagged wisps of broken mirrors from a dream; that dispersed before they could solidify. The problem was these mirrors fragments weren't from a dream and they didn't go away; more and more ripples kept appearing, and the longer Serah stared into each glimpse, her head began to pound.

"What's happening? What's going on?" she asked, but Noel was looking around just as confused and alarmed. And when she heard him mumbled under his breath the name of her hometown, _New Bodhum_, that's when Serah realized why these ripples were so familiar.

They were just like the distortions that appeared on the night the meteorite fell.

"Someone is messing with time and space, kupo!" Mog yelped, flying in close to Serah when Noel ordered them to stay together as the ripples became more stronger; pockets of different eras beginning to slip through. Within those cracks, Serah saw daylight shining in from another time, while other shards still projected the night or even dusk. The campfire quickly burnt out, the ash and soot blown away as flowers bloomed; died; grew and re-bloomed under foot as the seasons passed in and out of order; as did elements too change as the weather attacked the trio. In one instance, Serah could feel the heat of the sun; and then the next rain was pouring down like bullets on her back; before suddenly she was gasping from the freezing cold; her bare feet pulling out from a thin layer of snow on the ground that was gone before she knew it.

Their bodies, they were beginning to glow.

"Serah!" Noel yelled, grabbing her arm the same time Mog latched onto her shoulder, just seconds before the blinding gold light enveloped them all. And the next thing Serah was aware of, they were standing on the edge of a cliff, beside a massive waterfall they had never seen before and a view that looked just as alien…or perhaps not. Beyond the water cascading down from the falls, she saw trees; hundreds and thousands of tall trees, with many of them wilted and bare as that low sun burned red in the sky through those bony branches. The sun from a sunrise or sunset however, Serah couldn't decipher.

It was a dying forest; the dying forest of Sunleth Waterscape.

"What is...what just happened?" quickly Serah moved back from the crumbling edges of that cliff, as did Noel as he scanned their news surroundings, looking just as astonished as she was along with Mog.

"I think, we've been transported into the future," he said, the disorientation and shock of their sudden leap through time leaving Serah unable to accept it straight away.

It made no sense, why had they been brought here?

_Why?_

That was the question Serah soon got the answer to, when she suddenly heard the sound of something large, _breathing_.

Twigs snapped from behind them.

"Look out!"

Noel tackled into her, hard, just as something heavy slammed down on the ground where they'd been standing, and the world went into a chaotic spin as they went flying over the side of the cliff. They both went tumbling down against the dirt and rock of that slope, cutting and bruising flesh alike with every bump and scratch they received, before everything ended abruptly as Serah landed roughly onto a protruding ledge several feet below, bedded thick in grass and weeds. It did little to cushion her fall, but better that than solid rock any day.

What on Cocoon just happened?

"O-Ouch!"

The back of Serah's head throbbed from having clipped the side of the cliff, her body aching all over, yet nothing felt broken. She was fine more or less, all except for the overbearing weight bearing down on her ribcage, making it difficult to breathe.

"Ugh..."

Serah opened her eyes, and nearly died of fright on discovering the weight was in fact none other than a mildly concussed Noel, who had landed _directly_ on top of her; and was to her horror pressed against her in ways that left her utterly paralyzed in shock.

In coming to his senses and realizing the inappropriateness of their touching, Noel was quick to roll off Serah onto the grass next to her, muttering a quick apology she just barely caught…when a dark silhouette hung over them, and Serah spotted something descending down on the pair fast; a giant mouth bladed in fangs.

"NOEL!"

The two of them had mere seconds to roll out of the way before Serpentress crashed onto the ledge, reducing it to rubble as both they and the massive snake went falling down into Sunleth.

It was like being on an out of control roller coaster, without any seatbelts or bar to lock her in. Her stomach went up into her chest and then her throat as she went twirling and spinning out of control through the air with no way to stop it. They had been high up previously, incredibly high, but it wouldn't take them long to hit the bottom. And once they did, it would be lights out.

Vines crisscrossed between the massive trees like ropes; the blue round fruit on them glowing in the shadows of the dying forest. They were the only shot Serah had at saving herself but the vines kept whizzing by faster than she could grab them. She tried and tried, but couldn't get a hold of even one! And with every failure, she was getting closer to running out of time.

She couldn't let it end, not like this!

With barely a few vines left before the forest opened out into nothing, Serah threw her arms out, and her hand just managed to snatch hold of one at last. The force of her falling ripped the vine loose as it was yanked down several feet, before coming to a violent stop; the fortune of it being able to hold her weight coming at a hefty cost as Serah she let out an agonizing scream on feeling her shoulder dislocated, and with painful consequences. She nearly lost her grip on the vine as that pain cut through her muscles and ligaments in her shoulder down her arm, quick to swap over to her other hand prevent herself falling as she battled to hold on.

Yuj was right, dislocating a shoulder really did feel like getting your arm torn off.

Desperately clinging to that thin vine, Serah searched for somewhere she could climb over to, yet there was nowhere _to_ go. Every branch was too far out of reach with every other vine as well, and all that awaited Serah was a long drop below, where the giant waterfall poured into that dark pit like a black hole. And there was something just on the edge of it, floating slowly down as weightless as a balloon glowing brightly as it sank further into the dark.

The artefact, she had dropped it in their tumble down the cliff.

"Serah!" the sound of her name brought her back, and along one of the nearest branches, Serah nearly wept on seeing that Noel was running across it to where she was hanging onto life by a thread.

He was okay.

"Noel, I lost it! I lost the artefact!"

"It doesn't matter, we've gotta move. That thing's coming!" he told her, and saw Noel was right. Further down, wrapped around one of the large tree trunks, Serpentress was already making its way up to them; the threatening red markings of its scales illuminated in the dark forest, as were its ferocious yellow eyes. It would reach them in no time at the rate it was going, terrifying her on what could happen to them then.

Serah was practically hanging like live bait for it, and Noel, he was doing himself no favors in sticking with her.

"What do I do!?"

"Give me your hand, I'll pull you over." Noel said, balancing his feet on the narrow claws of the branch where he held out his hand to her as far as he could. Yet still, it felt like he were miles apart from her

Serah cried out again at even attempting to lift her dislocated arm to reach him. The end results was the same every time that she tried, it just hurt too much.

"It's no good! I can't!"

"Yes you can!"

"NO I CAN'T!**" **

Serpentress was climbing the tree fast, nearly halving the distance between them since Serah having first sighted the snake. It wouldn't be long now before it got to them.

It was too dangerous, to risk trying to save her...

"Just leave me and go!" Serah cried, her grip on the vine starting to weaken. "You need to get out of here now, or we'll both die!"

"Don't talk like that!" Noel yelled, stubbornly staying put. "Serah look at me, you can do this. I know you can!"

Those hungry hisses below grew louder as Serpentress got closer to the human pair. It was reckless Noel staying here. He should've been running by now, getting himself as much distance from that thing as possible. But he wouldn't go; even as the threat of death loomed, he still kept holding his hand out to her.

Noel refused leave her.

'_After all, you've risked your life a lot of times. To help me, I mean.'_

"Are you crazy!? You're gonna to get yourself killed!"

"Then so be it, if that what it takes to get you to Lightning!" Noel said defiantly, his eyes begging for her to fight as they had fought their fates so many other times before. "I promised I'd protect you no matter what and that's what I'm going to do. We'll make it out this, Serah. I won't let anything happen to you. You have to trust me, **now come on!"**

The trees groaned under the weight of Serpentress as the reptile slid over onto the trunk of the tree Noel was standing on; his balance wavering as he fought to stop himself from falling. The snake was already near enough to take a swipe at them, its threatening mouth of sharp teeth already opening wide.

"Kuuuupoooo!"

A small clock staff went flying at Serpentress from above, whacking the snake directly on its skull and knocking the reptile of its senses as its body uncoiled, slipping 50 or so feet down the trunk. And like her little guardian angel, Mog came swooping down from the cliff, having at last found the pair.

His small mitten paws quickly landed on her back, his bat wings flapping like crazy to create some force to push her over to the branch; over to Noel. "I'll help, kupo!"

Mog's distraction didn't last for long, for Serpentress soon recovered, already beginning its climb once again, angrily hissing at the group. But help Mog still did, and with their combined effort, Serah was able to build enough swinging momentum on the vine with her her legs to push herself in the direction of the young man. But it still wasn't enough, she needed to reach out to him.

"Hurry!"

Tears streaming down her cheeks from the suffering of her dislocated shoulder, Serah slowly raised her arm, making a grab for Noel's hand. The pain hitting her harder than she could take, she was quick to fail in her efforts, barely getting close enough.

"Try again!" Noel yelled, and Serah did so, getting that bit closer as she forced herself into tolerating the pain. But it was still nowhere near where she needed to be.

Just a little further! She couldn't give up!

Mog's wings fanned wildly against her skin as the moogle gave it his all. Ignoring the sounds of the fast approaching Serpentress, Serah put everything she had into one final swing, extending out her arm as far as she could. And it paid off! It finally paid off! She had gotten close enough at last be able to reach for Noel's hand; his and her fingers close to touching...

When the vine Serah was hanging onto, _snapped._

"NO!"

It was like time slowed in that moment; on seeing the terror on Noel's face when her fingertips slipped away from his; powerless to do anything for her as she felt gravity latch a hold of her entire body, dragging her down like quicksand._  
><em>

And, she fell.

Mog clung to her, his tiny wings not strong enough to hold the two of them up, as both he and Serah went falling down into where the waters crashed loudly somewhere far below; the sound of Noel screaming out her name following her all the way down into the darkness.

And when she finally hit the water, she knew no more...

* * *

><p><em>"Serah, come with me, okay?"<em>

_Snow had held out his hand to her, his smile so loving and warm it burned her out from the inside out. For years Serah had longed to be in the arms of her hero, so that they could go and find Lightning together. The wish was finally there in his hand, waiting for her to take it and make it come true. _

_She'd reached for Snow's hand; his and her fingers close to touching...yet she'd hesitated for too long, and Snow noticed. _

"_Serah?"_

_He'd extended his arm out further, closing his hand around hers, and his smiled faltered instantly when Serah had snatched her hand away, stepping back._

_The eyes of their confused friends stared at her like hawks. Serah hadn't been able to bear looking at them, just him; only her Snow who gazed back at her heartbroken on realizing what they once had was gone. And with every step she took away from him, the pain that was on his face grew worse. _

_She was no longer that girl on the hill._

"_Serah, what-"_

_The city had begun to close in on itself; trapping her like the walls of a prison as it all came together in that moment for Serah on why she was so torn up about going with her hero, when months before she would've done anything in the world to be by his side. It was the reason why Serah had burst into tears; why she had turned and fled into the crowded streets of Academia, leaving the remains of their hearts crushed on the ground, broken from the guilt of being so blind._

_Because Serah, didn't __love__** just** Snow anymore._

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>You and me, we'll always be together..."<strong>_


	7. Stranded

A/N: In advance to assure people who are trying to remain spoiler free until February, no spoilers from Lightning Returns will be making their way into this story. If they should do so however, it'll be way after February, so rest easy, spoilers won't creeping their way into Adam & Eve any time soon.

Although it should be noted a brief moment in this chapter is striking similar to something that happens at one point in Lightning Returns, if you figure out what that little moment is for any who have seen/played it the game, know it's just a coincidence [a coincidence that had me laughing].

With that over and done with, this may sting a little…

* * *

><p><em><strong>Adam &amp; Eve<strong>_

_Chapter 7 - Stranded_

* * *

><p><em>It had felt strange, sleeping in the same tent as Noel in the Bresha Ruins. They'd know each other only two days, the duration of their journey even less than that, hence spending their first night on the time travelling road inside the cramped tent that Alyssa offered them had made Serah a little nervous. It wasn't the same as sleeping in an inn or around a camp fire where they had plenty of room, for in that tent it was extremely small in comparison to the other, much spacious tents occupied around them by the Academy and the army. There was only enough room for the sleeping bags given to them to be rested side by side and enough height that would allow them to just barely sit up, meaning they would have to crawl in. <em>

_Sharing with Mog, it was okay. The moogle had slept in her room that first night in New Bodhum, having completely ignored the comfy kitty-set up Serah had gone to all the effort to, for Mog went straight for Snow's bed, tunneling under those sheets that had been neatly made for years and letting out the most content kupo to be sighed when his head hit that fluffy pillow. _

_Noel however, wasn't a cute moogle Serah could be as forgiving with. He was a grown man; the opposite sex, and the idea of crowding into that tent with Noel when the memory of walking in on him naked in the shower was still too fresh to her, had simply added to Serah's anxiety on sleeping next to a guy she still considered a stranger. _

"_It's quaint, I'll give you that," Noel said observantly from beside her, though Serah had been able to tell easy he wasn't impressed, and this had come from the man to have lived in the decrepit future who got astounded by rolls of toilet paper in the NORA house bathroom. Mog hadn't looked too amused either, probably having dreaded he would get sandwiched in between the two humans. Serah meanwhile, well, she'd been wishing they'd delayed defeating Atlas, so that the giant could have crushed that flimsy old tent like a bug._

"_There's really nothing else available, Alyssa?"_

"_Sorry, but the Academy's short on sleeping quarters after the axed evacuation plans with Atlas. Half of the equipment is back at headquarters and the rest is still here, so, everywhere is a little crowded tonight. You know how it is," the young academy trainee briskly brushed Serah off with, just as briskly as she was to make her exit from the trio with a cheery wave to match her smile. "Well gotta run. Have a good night you three, sweet dreams!"_

"_Uh…"_

_They had all really talked about leaving then. They had still needed to find the artefacts for the other gates in the ruins and continue on with their journey. The trio however was exhausted, having spent hours being interrogated by the army; hours running around in the rain and getting lost in the tunnels; too long solving those bizarre puzzles in the time labyrinth, and then having to go up against Atlas, twice. Serah didn't have to see the shadows under Noel's eyes to tell he too was beat, and after what'd happened on exiting the Time Gate last time, jumping into another gate to see what was ready to pounce on them from other side didn't sound too thrilling when Serah was missing Lebreau's specially brewed coffee._

_So when it had inconveniently started raining again, they were unwillingly convinced into staying the night after all, with them piling into that tent one by one. It wasn't no better off inside, for as it had continued raining, they'd discovered there were a few leaks here and there where water was dripping in, and the zip used to close up the front of that tent was broken and wouldn't do up, giving them little protection from the wind. And then for tops to have to try and sleep in such proximities with one another, while Serah shared her sleeping bag with a moogle snoozing noisily near her ear...it was no wonder Serah had found it so hard to sleep. _

_Listening to the rain outside, it hadn't done a thing to relax her neither, not when it kept dripping down those corners of the tent, that if it weren't for the waterproof mats beneath them, all three of them would've been soaked._

_Serah had expected they'd be sleeping rough, but this was ridiculous._

"_Noel?"_

"_Hm…?"_

"_Are you awake?"_

"…_No."_

_Noel had been resting on his side, the violet wings on the back of his dark shirt visible no thanks to the large spotlight shining on their tent from somewhere outside. There hadn't enough room for them both to sleep on their backs without poor Mog getting squished, or having their elbows constantly knocking at each other whenever someone went to move. Though, Serah figured had Noel done this to give her some personal space too, given the faces she'd been making at the idea of sleeping in there in the first place, for that Noel would joke about in the weeks to come when they would reflect on that night._

_Even back then, he could read her so well._

"_You're sure?"_

"_Yep, sleeping like Tonberry over here," Serah wasn't used to Noel's nature then, to know for sure when he was joking or being serious. But on that occasion, there'd been something playful in that drowsy voice of his that assured her he wasn't the cranky kind when deprived of rest. And he had all too soon dropped his little game to be the ears she needed; to listen. "What's the matter?" _

"_I…I can't sleep," Serah had confessed, though that was clearly an obvious fact. Still Noel hadn't bothered humoring her that time, his head lifting up from where he'd laid._

"_Homesick?"_

_Serah could hide nothing._

"_A little…"_

"_Ah," she'd caught the sympathy on Noel's voice as he'd slowly settled himself down again. "You'll be fine, not now maybe, but a few days. You'll see."_

"_You know that for sure?" Serah had wriggled her feet from under the sleeping bag, the cold draft from the tent's entrance giving her nippy toes. "Somehow I feel like…like I won't ever stop feeling this way, not until I bring Lightning back with me, and Snow."_

"_I never said you wouldn't…you just, get used to it, more or less." Noel told her, no doubt referring to the days he'd spent wandering after being the last human left on the planet. Serah though, she hadn't connected it to that tale he'd told her outside the NORA house back then, not straight away. If she had, she might've asked about it._

"_Probably, I guess…"_

…

…

…

"_But you still can't sleep?" Noel asked._

"_Not a wink," She'd whined._

_Noel almost chuckled. "Then, why don't you try closing your eyes and lay perfectly still? No mocking intended there."_

"_Oh, okay," further Serah had wiggled into the sleeping bag. "Just close my eyes…I can do that…"_

_They were quiet for several minutes, while the rain had fallen blissful outside from all around, muting out every sound as those ruins no longer bustled with curious academy students or cautious soldiers on duty. Everything had been still._

_Just when Serah thought they were done for the night, that Noel would say no more, he had._

"…_Or you know, if you want, you could do what I do."_

_Serah had glanced at him. "What's that?"_

_Noel had seemed reluctant on adding more, like they were delving into something personal that he wasn't used to sharing before, not with her. In time that had changed, but for then in those early days, that night was the first of many stepping stones forged between them, for what was the beginning of their friendship. _

"_Well I…you just…try imagining you're someplace else, somewhere familiar. It can be your home or your favorite lookout point maybe. It can be anywhere you want it to be, as long as you find peace there…it helps, I find."_

_Serah had diligently studied the back of the young man while he had spoken; trying to picture his face as he had done so, for what it would've looked like if she could see it then, but importantly, what he kept locked away inside him._

_Noel had broken the silence with a semi-serious joke. "But I don't advise counting sheep. That game's overkill on your stomach when you haven't eaten in three days, believe me."_

"_Heh, okay I won't," she'd promised, settling back down as she'd shut her eyes. "No sheep…"_

_It had taken a while for Noel's advice to work, but in time, it did. With eyes closed, Serah listened to that rain, and began to picture her hometown, not New Bodhum, but Old Bodhum from how it used to be on Cocoon. She'd pretend that she wasn't really in a tent, but in her old bedroom upstairs. She'd pretended the draft making its way in from outside was from a window she'd left open, and had gotten too lazy to get up and close it when it started raining. The leak in the tent was really a leak in the ceiling that needed fixing, and the moogle cuddled up to her was really her old favorite carbuncle plushie._

_And the person sleeping next to her, it wasn't Noel, Serah had…she'd pretended that it was Lightning, even creating the scenario in her head that Serah thought she'd heard thunder outside from far away, and that was why she'd crawled into bed with her sister, having often feared storms as a child._

_She'd held onto that illusion in her mind, keeping the images crystal clear and her eyes firmly closed so it wouldn't fade away. And sure enough, the longer she had held it there, did a heaviness weigh down on her eyelids, her senses dulling as she'd both felt and heard sleep's call, beckoning her away._

"_Noel?"_

"_Hmm?"_

"…_Thank you."_

"_For what?"_

_Serah had been too dozy to say much else as she'd leaned her head gently against Mog's, last thing for her ears to hear that night being the soft downpour of that rain outside, and her own voice a tiny whisper._

"_Finding me…"_

_Serah hadn't realized just how much she cherished their friendship in the months they travelled together, and as it had blossomed so too did it change how they functioned as a group as well. _

_Whenever they were hungry, they would all stop and eat for lunch, cooking and preparing the food in the ways they knew how and each doing their part to clean up afterwards. If they needed to shop for gear, they spent their gil wisely, often if always making sure they all agreed on their purchases before paying for anything. Whenever they got a tear in their clothes or their shoes damaged in battle, Serah would stitch the fabric back together perfectly, and Noel would fix up his or her boots so easily as if he'd done it a thousand times before. And at any time they'd escaped a monster infested area or found a place of safety, they would always assess each other injuries, help keeping a fractured wrist in place or apply pressure to a bleeding wound while a cure spell or two worked some magic._

_They looked out for each other, took care of one another. Their loyalty and trust worth more to Serah than gold and more precious than diamonds. She felt happy in their company, in Noel's company, that even when Hope had offered them both separate rooms in Academy Headquarters, Serah declined straight away, without even giving time to discuss it with Noel, or have even considered that they were in the safest place on Pulse and had no need to share rooms with each other anymore, not there._

_She never stopped missing home, missing her sister and Snow…but when she was with Noel and Mog, it wasn't so bad. They had become a part of each other's lives; travelling together; rarely straying from the other sight. Serah had gotten so used to Noel's presence by her side, that…that she couldn't stand being without Noel for too long before seeking him out, and that was the problem._

_Serah didn't want to be without him._

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>There's too much sadness in my world, your future. It'd be better if it never happened at all."<strong>_

* * *

><p>They remain in waiting beneath an overhanging tree, one of the last few remaining to still be growing with life, and the smallest of all those in the forest; its frail leafs a light emerald, with the buds of white flowers yet to bloom on its branches.<p>

Innocent eyes peer out at the tiny meadow, nostrils taking in the fresh scented air as fingers stroke at the grass from where one sits. Eyes close, listening to the breeze gliding through the trees, when in a heartbeat any peace to be found is lost, as _another sense_ awakens.

"It's time."

The person beside the one with innocent eyes acknowledges their words in silent agreement. A hand is held out, assisting the youngest who stands shorter than the eldest.

And in the blink of an eye, they vanished.

* * *

><p>Serah<p>

Serah wake up

* * *

><p>The ferocious burning pain in Serah's lungs had her eyes snapping open, her entire body wide awake in an instance. Darkness was everywhere, a coldness seeping through into her veins. Everything was out of focus, her ears blocked by something. And above her, she saw a rippling surface from where sunlight shone through the darkness, a surface that looked like-<p>

Water…

_**She was under water!**_

Legs brushing against the rocks and reeds of riverbed, Serah pushed herself up and swum out from the depths. She let out a huge gasp as she broke the surface, and immediately found herself fighting for her life as the immense pain from her dislocated arm made near impossible to swim, let alone get her breath back.

What had happened? Where was…

Serah whipped her head around, trying to figure out where exactly she was, though the answer to that Serah wasn't sure of, for all she could see was nothing but trees along the riverbank. And the river itself was huge; those powerful currents pulling her downstream faster than she could swim, so powerful Serah's effort to reach the shore fell flat.

This wasn't any ordinary river. She had woken right the middle of some rapids.

"Noel! Mog!"

A yelp escaped her lips when an unexpected dip in the river send her reeling downwards, choking on more water as she was nearly dragged under. Nothing Serah did made any difference, the currents were just too strong, leaving her no choice but to endure the beatings of those rocks as the rushing water rammed her into each of them and down those wild rapids like a fast and brutal water ride.

Serah tried to move her body with the flow of the water in the hopes it would cushion the blows, but such acts were made near useless for every time her dislocated shoulder struck against one of those rocks, the pain would leave her screaming, taking in more water as she struggled more and more to stay afloat each time. There was no reprieve from it. The rapids just went on and on, while Serah was getting more bashed up with each crooked bend of the river. If this kept up, she'd be in worse trouble than she already was; the deadly kind.

"Help! Someone help!"

Out, she had to get out! Somehow Serah had to break free from the grip the waters had on her before she broke an arm or a leg, _or worse_. Fought she did, her wet hands slipping on every rock she tried to latch a hold onto; trying to slow herself down, but that all Serah could do, _try_.

She felt herself getting more tired, the pain of her shoulder dangerous close to making her go unconscious…

"Lightning!"

And just when Serah thought she could take no more, the waters of those rapids suddenly dropped off into nothingness. She cried out in surprise as she went falling down a waterfall, mere infant compared to the other waterfalls one Serah had come across in other parts of Sunleth. Sort the drop into that water was, the impact did her battered body no good, especially her bad shoulder.

On overcoming her final struggle to reach the surface, Serah found no more of rapids awaited her here, not as before. The worst it appeared was over, for the river opened out further, leaving the currents no longer so powerful, yet an issue they still were to Serah for she soon felt herself still being tugged along the instance she gasped for air into her lungs again.

She had to hurry.

Keeping the energy built up in her limbs, Serah gazed around for something she could grab onto, catching sight of some roots from a tree almost immediately. They whole grouping of roots, poking out from the water near to the riverbank, but they were just close enough that maybe if she was quick enough...

Like a wounded animal, Serah swam towards them, her dislocated arm a dead weight to her side as she reached out with her good arm, her fingers hooking into those mass of roots, getting a firm grip.

"Ack!" the sudden halt wreaked havoc on the right side of her body as she held on. Uncaring on suppressing the tears, Serah started kicking her legs, swimming against the currents the best she could, while keeping a grip on the roots of that tree with her good arm. And then, a little bit at a time, she grappled her way along the stretches of roots as she slowly pulled herself to shore and freed herself of the river's wrath at long last.

Body dripping from head to toe, she collapsed down on the dirt, regretting it instantly as the pain in her arm and shoulder throbbed, the cold sending shivers up and down her body. It took a long time to get her breath back, to get over the relief of feeling solid ground underneath her again after having been beaten up so badly. No, she couldn't get over it, not just yet. Even now, she still felt like she was in a nightmare.

Reality was the nightmare.

And things were much worse than she could imagine. The whole forest carried a misty blueness to it; near identical to the time she had spent in Sunleth 400AF with the schools of friendly miniflans, when the old trees were in their final years of life. But things were different here. The forest had deteriorated more since her last visit to that particular era, the foliage all but nonexistent with many trees looking as if they'd been dead for years.

How much closer were they to Cocoon collapsing?

"Noel? M-Mog?"

Nobody answered, and Serah couldn't see them anywhere, not in the forest or in the water. It was quiet, much too quiet.

Her friends, what had happened to them? How long had she been unconscious in that water? It was brighter out now, brighter than before with sunlight shining down into that dank misty place, so it couldn't have been that long.

The memories of the Serpentress had Serah rising sooner than she was ready to, her dislocated shoulder doing little to stop her as she lifted her battered body up, cradling her aching arm to her chest.

"Noel!"

The trees were on a smaller scale around here, not even the faint whisper or sight to be found of the far greater waterfall that she had fallen near when being separating from Noel…and then somehow, Mog too. She had been washed a long way down stream, but if she followed the river, maybe she stood a chance of finding them again.

Standing around wouldn't solve anything.

"I have to find them…arh!" Serah seized up as the pain shot through her, the slow stiff steps she had taken being too much for her take.

Her dislocated shoulder, she needed to do something about it first or she wouldn't be getting far. But how? She required someone else to help her, like how Gadot helped Yuji with his shoulder when he had dislocated it. Or maybe, she didn't. She had watched everything Gadot had done when fixing Yuji's arm that day on the beach. If Serah was careful, maybe she could do it. What other choice did she have?

Nursing her arm close to her prevent further discomfort, Serah waddled over to the nearest tree, whimpering as soon as she leaned her bad shoulder gently against the trunk. There, she tried to remember every motion Gadot made when manipulating Yuji's arm into its rightful place

Serah took a deep breath, and readied herself.

"One…two…_**three!**_"

She cried out almost straight away, the excruciating pain too much, reducing Serah to tears as she slumped down on her knees, unable to bring herself to try again.

It was no use, she couldn't do it. She just couldn't do it! How was she supposed to move around when she was in this much agony? Serah had nearly passed out in the rapids, any obstacle to get in her path, anything she needed to climb and she'd be done, finished!

She couldn't help her friends, not when she was like this…

"In need of some assistance?"

That familiar voice had Serah quickly rising back up again, her teary eyes widening in shock at seeing the man standing several feet away. She hadn't heard him sneak up on her, not one single sound; or perhaps she had just been too distracted by the pain in her shoulder to have noticed. Regardless what else was Serah to expect from a man who moved through time like a shadow, remaining the same mystery as when Serah had seen him in her dreams with Lightning.

And here he was once more, that grotesquely formed sword resting on his back, his body sculpted within that deadly armor with his expression cold as ice. It was as if he had been waiting for her this whole time.

"Caius?"

He was already walking towards her, each one of his long strides bringing him closer than was welcomed. With barely any time to even so much as cover herself, Serah moved back as fast as she was able, wanting to get as much distance from the Guardian as possible. But in that blind moment of panic, Serah had kept her eyes on Caius and notwhere she was going, the mistake to be her literal downfall when her foot caught on a protruding root from the ground, and she fell like a clumsy fool.

Her bruised body even more shaken up, Serah scrambled away along the ground, the agony of her dislocated shoulder slowing her escape, while Caius took his time, not even rushing as he soon came to stand over her with those same calculus eyes as those to condemn her and Noel in Oerba; no remorse.

Caius's sword remained sheathed on his back, but he didn't need such a weapon to get the job done.

_'We'll make it out of here, Serah.'_

Serah threw out her hand, to cast a lethal Thunder spell. Only mere sparks materialized, inadvertently backfiring on herself as the static buzzed up her arm.

"Get back! Stay away from me! Don't-" the Guardian's hand shot out, silencing Serah as she felt herself being hurled up by her neck, and she was slammed against the trunk, her toes barely touching the ground. Caius held her with an iron grip, threatening to crush her throat as he left her battling for every breath. The kicks from her legs did nothing to sway that strong build of a man, and her one useable hand could only cling to his wrist, nails scratching at the leather of his gloves.

"Please…l-let me…let me g-go!" Serah choked out, fearful of the man and what his intentions were to be.

Caius merely smirked at her, as if sensing the nature of that fear.

"Ignorant child, as you have been for all you have done thus far. You need not jump to such violating conclusions, I do not intend to harm you," he said, yet the hand locked around Serah's neck warned her otherwise. She almost screamed out again when Caius clamped his other hand on her dislocated shoulder, gripping it tightly.

"Be still," Caius ordered as Serah squirmed, feeling like she might die from the pain, when a strange energy began flowing through her from where the guardian grasped her shoulder. It sunk into Serah's skin like cold vapor, in through the muscles and down to the bones of the very shoulder that caused her so much suffering.

A sudden sharp stab of pain sliced through the ligaments, quickly fading to a dull ache. And the guardian released her instantly, leaving Serah to slip gracelessly to the ground against the tree in a violent coughing fit.

In that moment Caius looked down on her like an insignificant creature, as if that gaze alone could've torn her apart. Then with a sound of dissatisfaction, he turned on his heels and started walking back the way he came, to leave.

Serah couldn't believe it, even as she moved her once painful arm with ease, the truth wouldn't set in.

Caius, he had fixed her shoulder.

"Wait, _wait!_"

The Guardian didn't stop, didn't listen to her. He just kept walking, getting further and further away.

Strenuously, Serah picked herself up. "Why are you helping me?"

There were a lot of things she wanted to ask, demand even. Yet Caius did not appear in the mood to wait around for such interrogations, and especially not for her. He did however give one answer as he walked away, the words of which Serah caught loud and clear.

"I do what must to be done to amend the path. That is all."

"What has to be done?" Puzzled Serah stepped forward, prepared to go after him, even if her conscience said otherwise and the lack of clothes left her wanting to hide from the Guardian than approach him.

Serah never even got as far as reaching a decision on the matter, when her head started to pound with a splitting headache, her vision clouding in a haze as she dropped down to her knees.

A gold emblem blinded her sight…

* * *

><p><strong>A moogle swims frantic within the raging currents, his small paws holding onto a human girl who floats with him, who's head he struggles to keep above water…<strong>

**To a rock the moogle is stuck, his tiny grip lost, as the girl slips under, lost to him…**

**Unconscious he floats, on the surface, where a large orange limb of dripping fingers dips in, pulling the moogle out...**

**Away he is carried into the dying forest, a slimy trail left behind on a grassless ground…**

**Mog…**

**He sprints, he climbs, he leaps, not fast enough to escape from the shadow that chases…**

**In the distance it is seen, a fossilized tree, cocooned within crystal, where tunnels are buried throughout, a branch bridging right to one; a chance of safety…**

**Chunks of crystal and splinters of wood fly everywhere, blood spilling like wine… **

**Red droplets fall on dirt, down skin as a foot trips, a body tumbles, and to the ground a man lays still, eyes open, lifeless…**

**Noel…**

**NOEL!**

* * *

><p>Serah bolted awaked, dazed in finding she was resting on her back. She had blacked out again, but for how long? A few minutes? Hours?<p>

Those dreams again...

"Noel…Mog…" wobbly Serah stood, her brain still wearing off from the migraine inflicted upon it. As her balance went slightly off, something dripped down from her nose, and quickly she was to wipe it away, only to be surprised at the trail of blood to be left smudged across her fingers; a nosebleed.

Blood, there was blood in the dream too!

Her friends, they were both in trouble, or would be soon. She had to find them. They needed her help!

Looking over at that small waterfall she had fallen down not long ago, Serah went to move in the direction of the trail leading up the rocks not far from it, when memories of the Guardian had her breath catch in her throat. Immediately she glanced around that forest for any sign of the mysterious man, but he was nowhere to be found.

Caius was gone.

* * *

><p>"Back for more? I thought you were done talking with me."<p>

"**What?"**

"Your words, not mine.

"**Can the attitude, alright. This isn't about you and me."**

"So there is something on your mind"

"**As if you don't already know that."**

"Indulge me anyway. I'm not your enemy. It would be nice if you stopped treating me as one."

"**Considering the circumstances, I think I have full right to be cheesed off, so why don't we skip all this and cut to the chase."**

"I'm listening."

"**Good, now tell me…did you know that this was going to happen?"**

"…The timeline is no individual path set in stone. There are a great number of paths the future can break off onto; multiple futures. They may hold minor or vast variations, while others may intertwine with another future entirely, or meet an abrupt end."

"**You didn't answer my question. Did you KNOW this was going to happen?"**

"…I saw it as a possibility, yes."

"**And you didn't think to warn them? To prevent it!?"**

"You accuse me of not wishing to? You may have seen something you didn't like, but I've had to see everything! Every single possible outcome of their journey, all the good and the bad! And let me tell you, having to watch them die a thousand times over nearly drove me to madness and would do you the same! So don't you dare come preaching to me like you know what's best, because you have no idea."

"**Hmph...you sound more and more like that madman every day." **

"Maybe I do, I can sympathize at the very least. But my hands are tied here and you need to accept that."

"**Bullshit! There still must be something you can do, anything other than just sitting there!"**

"It's the only thing I can do, and you know that, or I would be there with all of you. Don't you see yet? If I was to warn them of every danger, the timeline would alter and another threat would come in its stead…the cycle is endless and it's one she isn't able to withstand forever. The less I intervene, the better chance she has of living long enough to survive past all this, of having some future of her own left to value."

"**What are you talking about…?"**

"…"

"**Lightning answer me! What aren't you telling me!?"**

"…"

"**Lightning!"**

"She…she's dying, Snow."

* * *

><p>An elegant hand combs through brunet hair, the sad melody from a lullaby filling the air, unheard to the ears that is sung for.<p>

One sits in waiting by the side of the other who rests dreaming. Reluctance grips a heart, tying it down, as fingers run over red stained skin, tears bringing forth pain, knowing soon they must go and leave them behind.

The lullaby meets its inevitable end, and time can be spared no more. The small figure leans over, no fear or hesitation as they plant a kiss upon the cheek of the one in slumber.

That young figure rises, small feet carrying them away, their absence going left unnoticed to the other who is left behind; the chains that keep their soul bound to this world beginning to slowly weaken with each breath…

* * *

><p>The dreams, they were always so vivid.<p>

Serah had experienced them ever since her journey through time started back in New Bodhum. In the dream that night, she had seen Lightning fighting Caius; Noel appearing through the gate, and her sister entrusting Mog to him with the request to bring Serah to her. All of it, Serah witnessed before that meteorite fell, before she officially met Noel and Mog in person. Even as the details of that dream faded, she still knew who they were, she remembered them.

What scared her was just how accurate the dreams were, and more still, that they were starting to take a great toll on her, the side effects of headaches and fatigue lingering on longer than previous dreams. She had blacked out once like this before in the Augusta Tower, but now blood? What was going on with her?

And Caius? They had been right to suspect him all along, or so it seemed. What made no sense was that the Guardian had helped her, however brief and cold he may have been, he _really_ did help her. Did that mean he wasn't the real culprit? That he didn't manipulate Serpentress somehow into attempting to kill them?

What had he been talking about, on setting things onto the right path?

She'd have to tell Noel about it when she found him…if that ever happened. That dream of him and Mog troubled her. Somewhere out there, they were in danger. If it served as a warning to her on what was to come, then it was still something she could prevent. Serah had done that once before, saved Snow from his Royal Highness before the monstrous flan could kill him. She just had to save her friends from the bleak fates of that dream too, somehow.

"I'll find you, I have to…"

Roaming through the forest in any given direction didn't seem like a good idea when Serah wasn't certain of where she was, so she followed the river upstream as planned. It was the only thing she had left to go by, and she knew for a fact Noel wasn't stupid. If he wanted to find her, he would know to follow the river, the same for Mog too, wherever the moogle was. It was the best shot any of them had on reuniting again.

Serah shuffled along as fast as her numb feet would allow, hugging her shivering body still recovering from her dip in the water, while trying to adapt to the change in temperature for this era. There wasn't a second to go by that she didn't keep a look out for her two time travelling companions, eager to seek out the key landmarks she had seen in her dreams, or any visual clue that might help her track Noel and Mog down, though nothing came even close.

It got darker the more she travelled up stream, the trees branching up higher and higher as more the sky was blocked out. No Caius; no Serpentress and no monsters, the fragility of that forest had become a ghost onto itself, and Serah just wanted to get out of it along with her friends as soon as possible, to be free of this place.

She hated being alone.

Her hands gripped at the moss infested rocks, pulling herself up that steep slope to reach the higher level of the river bank. Each footing Serah tested, making sure it would support her weight before progressing to the next one, and then the next. Beads of sweat trailed down her forehead, mixing with water and with tears, pushing her over her limits to keep going, and overcome the exhaustion, the hunger and the pain.

Couldn't quit…

One slippery rock gave way under foot as she near to reaching the top, the sudden strain put Serah's sore shoulder nearly making her let go. Her eyes shot up at the top of the slope, as if expecting to see her friends there, for Noel to lend her a hand as he had always done. Nobody was there, no one to help her.

She couldn't quit…

Knuckles white, teeth gritted, she held on while feeling around with her feet for another footing to support her legs. Finding them, Serah used the aid of both her good and lesser arm to pull herself up; giving it her all to drag her tired body over the edge. She rolled onto the dirt in succeeding, her lungs letting out a shaky breathe while her gaze wandered up at the bony treetops where the morning's light shone down through the cracks.

What had happened to yesterday? Maybe the future wasn't certain then, but at least things… they made sense, they all had a plan. Their quest to save the future was nearing some conclusion, to where she may have met her sister again.

Where did it all go wrong? When were things ever right to begin with?

"Lightning…"

Serah's hand slid along her shoulder, gripping at her right arm absent of the black zigzag patterned armband to have been turned a shimmering gold by the Goddess herself.

Lightning had given it to her the day of the archery tournament in Bodhum, said it was for good luck. Lightning had her Guardian Corp exam the same day, so neither one to attend the other's event, perhaps being the reason why Lightning had gone out of her way to buy those armbands, to let her know she would be there in spirit.

The armbands had come as a matching pair, but when Serah had got to slip the second on her arm she had stopped, choosing to take her surprised sister by the wrist, and slipping it up onto her arm instead.

'_There, now you can have good luck too.'_

Neither one succeeded, Lightning failed her exam the first time, and Serah, only having begun archery that year, barely made it as a runner up in the tournament. For years after though, they rarely ever took those armbands off. Whenever Lightning left to go on security duty, that dark band was always there, remaining as an important part of her uniform. Even as they slowly began to drift further apart and work took up much of Lightning's time, likewise to Serah's studies, seeing that armband, let her know her sister still cared for her, just as much as Serah hoped Lightning thought the same whenever she saw her still wearing her own.

"What was it you said to me that day, Lightning? 'Keep your chin up and knock em dead,' something like that…"

Serah sat up, rubbing her palm from where the scabby indents from her nails remained visible on her skin; that time in which she had clenched her hand so tightly feeling like years ago…

"I wish I knew, what you'd say to me now."

She didn't rest for long, soon going on the search again. It got easier to the walk the further she went, building up more body heat with every step. Frequently did she scan the both sides of that large river, constantly glancing at those fast flowing rapids she'd been forced to travel down earlier for any sign of her friends. Serah kept calling her names into the wilderness the whole way, but never once, got a reply back.

It probably wasn't a good idea, shouting out and attracting attention on herself. If not Serpentress for being completely deaf, any stray monster would get drawn to it, and Serah knew that if were to happen, her best chances of escaping would be risking the waters of the rapids once more. Strange it was, she hadn't seen or heard anything yet, though Serah pinned it down to Serpentress's doing, more than just the forest dying. It always had a habit of scaring monsters off.

But, Serpentress had been here in this era just as long they had, hadn't it?

"Noel, Mog, are you out there?"

The panic harbored inside her since being separated from them, since seeing that dream, had begun to spread like a disease. Serah tried to keep her calm, to stay above of her emotions and focus on finding her friends, yet the longer she went on without results, the harder a struggle it was becoming to do just that. The truth was Serah was worried; scared to death for their safety, that soon she was jogging alongside that riverbank, her voice becoming raw for the amount of times she cried out to Noel and Mog; shouted to them.

No answer, why wouldn't they answer?

They couldn't…it wasn't possible that they'd already...no! The things she saw in that dreams couldn't have already come to pass. They were alive out there, they had to be. She would know if they were dead, she would feel it…

Serah couldn't rest, not until she found them.

"Where are you!?"

The river turned into a sharp bend, obscured by the trees and large slabs of rock to lean over the water like a miniaturized mountain. Easy to ascend, Serah stepped up the rocks quickly; looking out at her surrounding on reaching to the top. Yet, what she saw awaiting her further upriver wasn't good news, not in the slightest bit.

The mental blow of what Serah saw brought her to her very knees, her head shaking denial, not wanting to believe it.

"No…no!"

The river, it divided off into three directions, each leading off somewhere into the forest beyond the thick lining of trees. Each branch of the river looked the same, and not one gave any hints or indication that there were waterfalls beyond them. And worse still the rushing of water here was too loud to hear if any such waterfalls of were even close by.

Serah had woken in the rapids further downstream before all this. She didn't know from which river she had drifted down from. This was bad, really bad.

"No, no…this can't be happening, which way am I supposed to go?" she looked, seeking out in any visual clues that might help her figured out that answer, yet she couldn't find anything of the such.

The trees were massive here, but the river was so huge in itself that even not they would merge a safe path across it from their branches. And the currents, they were going much too fast for Serah to try swimming across them, she'd only get washed down stream again.

Her friends, if they were on the other side, up one of those rivers, Serah had no way of getting to them, not unless she walked up far enough until the river was both narrow and shallow enough to attempt a crossing. Covering all that ground might take her hours, if more. She couldn't afford to search that long, she needed to find Noel and Mog, _now!_ But how on Cocoon was Serah to know where to find them, when time wasn't on their side? Every second was valuable, enough that she couldn't waste them searching down each and every river; if she picked the wrong one, they would both suffer for it.

That dream, it wasn't enough of a guide.

"No, you can't do this to me…I need more, you have to give me a sign," Serah rubbed her tear stained face, looking up at that small pocket of sky beyond the high treetops that blocked most the sunlight out. "Lightning, can you hear me? I need another dream. I have to find them. I can't do this on my own!"

…

"Lightning? _**Lightning!**_"

In the Vile Peak, she heard her sister's voice after that Twilight Odin was slayed. It wasn't her imagination, even Noel had believed in some way she had heard Lightning speaking to her.

'_If you keep me in your thoughts, one day, I am certain I will find my way home again.'_

Lightning had to be able to hear her from Valhalla, watching them on every step of their journey. Even if the paradox back then had something to do with it, the paradoxes interfering here had to give her an open window now, right…?

"You gave me this gift to help change the future didn't you, Lightning?" Serah's nails dug into crevices in the rock from where she sat, her eyes pleading up at that sky. "So why won't you hear me now and help me save them? They deserve to live just as much as I do, maybe more…I don't care what happens to me or how much it hurts, just please, please let them live! I need them, Lightning. I need you!"

They said they would go together. This journey, it was meant for the three of them. To leave this place on her own, to go to Valhalla and meet her sister without them beside her, it would kill her inside.

Serah needed something, _anything _to help her find them in time! But Lightning, even if she was listening, didn't answer her pleas, nor bestow another dream. The only answer Serah received in shouting up at that lonely, bleak sky…was silence.

Everything crumbled inside her, a feeling of defeat overwhelming her as slumped over, covering her face in shame. Serah felt utterly pathetic, useless for being so weak when she should be strong and sucked it all up. She hated to cry, yet she couldn't help every tear that spilled out.

She wasn't Lightning. No matter how much she tried to be, in training and becoming a fighter, she wasn't like her sister. Her friends, they were her true strength, where she derived her courage from. With them here, Serah felt brave enough to take on anything. Without them, she was nothing, nothing other than that stupid girl that got herself branded in the Pulse Vestige and condemned so many to death.

By herself, she was stranded.

"Why, what am I supposed to do now?" Serah buried her hands within her hair, nails digging at her scalp in frustration, "I screwed up, it's all my fault…"

Noel, the last she saw of him was when she was falling, screaming out her name as Serpentress loomed close. And Mog, she'd felt him slip away as soon as she hit the water and went unconscious.

She couldn't say goodbye to them, for that to be her last memories of them along with glimpses of their fates in that dream. Mog, she needed him so much…and, and Noel too. There was so much she hadn't told him yet; too much she had to apologize for.

All Serah wanted was to know they were okay. She had to see them again.

They had to be alive…

* * *

><p>Get up<p>

* * *

><p>Something light struck the rocks not far from her, bouncing across the stone to where it rolled to a stop by her knee.<p>

A small pebble…?

Bolting up, Serah searched along the riverbank in the direction the pebble came from, nearly jumping out of her skin at spotting a small figure some distance away, watching her.

Serah recognized that blue hair anywhere.

"Yeul?"

It was definitely her alright. That same angelic face and those emerald eyes every Yeul shared. The Seeress's clothes were as Serah had always seen them, with that clear jewel on her chest and the diadem headdress shining unnaturally within that forest.

Identical as she was to all the others, there was one difference Serah was aware of instantly, in that this Yeul showed more emotion; her wide eyed expression carrying a look of urgency upon her doll like features. And there was another difference too. The Seeress…she had **blood** on her hands.

Before Serah had even the chance to say anything, Yeul took off into the forest.

"Hey wait!"

Serah stumbled down from the rocks, her head still dizzy in shock as she quickly reached the spot in which Yeul had been standing previously, and ventured into the forest to find her.

First Caius, now Yeul too?

What was going on?

The Seeress hadn't gotten far, not being that fast of a runner, her slim legs hopping over the large roots of the ancient trees that she crisscrossed through like a maze. It was much darker here than by the river, far too dark. With the lack of light in this place, if Serah wasn't careful, she was going to lose sight of her.

"Yeul stop! Wait!"

The Seeress didn't listen. She just kept running, only briefly stopping to look back as if to make sure Serah was following her, before slipping out from view behind some trees. Serah pushed on, running as fast as her body allowed as she hurried along the trail Yeul had taken, tripping on the same roots of the tree the young girl had disappeared beyond. It was there, Serah saw something radiated with light through the trees in the distance; a wall of intense blue?

Was that…

A figure ran across that light, disappearing against the black outlines of the trees.

"Yeul!"

Serah went towards it, nearly tripping over herself in a rush to find out what it was. And it was into a clearing she soon came to be, where her breath was taken away, along with the name of the Seeress she had gone to speak, for her hunches proved right.

It was a large stem of the crystal pillar, the largest Serah had seen within all her time here. And trapped within that beautiful blue glass was a tree, perfectly preserved since the fall of the Cocoon all those centuries ago.

It was the crystal pillar from her dream, no doubts about it. Though it was different now, something had inflicted heavy damage onto one half of it, large chunks of crystal lying scattered all over the clearing, with tiny sharp shards shimmering beautiful yet deadly on the soil. If the damage had been recently, it was hard to tell for sure, but, something told Serah this hadn't happened too long ago.

The dream, she had seen crystal fragments flying, blood being spilt. Did that mean, Noel had already…

"Noel? Yeul?"

Cautiously Serah walked further into that clearing, the ground feeling cold against her bare feet while she tried to avoid the broken pieces of crystal. There was something unsettling about this place, the sounds of the river echoing from far behind her invading the silence here, as if she'd left one world and stepped into another.

The Seeress wasn't here, not anywhere that Serah looked for her. Just like Caius, Yeul had disappeared. Perhaps it was for the best, Serah didn't favor the idea of talking to the Guardian nor the Seeress while in the nude. But, her friends, was she any closer to finding them?

Serah took in the sight of that crystal pillar, towering up high above those trees. There were holes, dozens and dozens of holes that had been eroded into the crystal like tunnels within an ant colony, identical to the indents made by the miniflans who had damaged other sections of the pillar in previous eras. The miniflans weren't using those tunnels anymore that Serah could tell. There wasn't any flan excrements around here like on the branches where those schools of flans of been, and she didn't hear any…

Oh no.

Serah hurried forward, wincing at the broken shards that caught under her feet as she went to the base of the pillar. It stood out against the blue crystal, smeared across outside one of the tunnels made by the flans, as if someone had leaned or fallen against it.

**Blood.**

It wasn't fresh, yet it hadn't been there too long either.

A voice suddenly cried out from elsewhere the forest, somewhere close. It was a man's voice, and one Serah recognized instantly that had her heart racing.

"Noel…? NOEL!"

Fear electrifying to her core, Serah went sprinting out from the clearing and in the direction of that cry, her mind going a mile a minute while she ran with everything she had.

He was here, Noel was still here! Still alive! But he sounded hurt, like he was in trouble.

Serpentress, was it there with him? Would she just be running into danger, to her death if she didn't stop? Even if that was so, right now it didn't matter to her, all Serah cared about was getting to him, getting to Noel. It didn't matter at what cost brought on her, she wasn't going to abandon him here, not ever again.

She had to save him.

Ignoring every warning, Serah pushed herself even harder, screaming out at the top of her lungs the name of her friend and straining both her eyes and her ears to see or hear him.

"Noel, Noel where are you? Please! Answer me!"

She caught sight of more blood on the bark of a tree, and again on the ground, a trail of droplets leading through the forest like breadcrumbs. It made Serah's stomach churned at how much of it she found of it, far too much.

How long had Noel been bleeding? How badly injured was he?

Soon Serah found out, on stopping where the terrain dropped off into nothing …and she saw the hunter of 700AF at the bottom of it, lying there in a ditch just like in her dream. But no more was he unconscious, for those hands were clenching at the soil with every muscle within those well-built arms tensed; trying to get himself to stand up.

Serah nearly fell over herself as she skidded down the slope on her side to reach him, her knees going weak seeing he was still alive, still drawing breath.

"Noel!"

At hearing her call his name, Noel slowly raised his head and looked at her, straining his blue eyes at her as if she were was miles away than a few feet, and quickly closing in on him.

"Serah…?" Noel sounded tired, like he was barely with it, his face sickly pale with his eyes appearing glazed, the same thing in which Serah had once seen in her mother's eyes when the final stages of her illness.

No, this wasn't good.

"I'm here, I'm here!" Serah assured, almost crying as she dropped down beside Noel from where he laid on his stomach. Her attention immediately fell onto the cuts on his shoulder that had already reopened, and new ones had joined them, brutal deep wounds that had caused his entire arm to be caked in red; the source of all the bleeding. The wounds had finally congealed, yet the damage had already been done. Just by looking at him Serah could tell Noel had lost a lot of blood, and there was no way he'd escape this without infection.

He needed stitches, no, he needed magic, but Serah had nothing, she was powerless to do anything to fix it. And yet, what got her was despite how poorly he was and the graveness of his injuries, never had Noel looked so relieved to see her again, smiling up at her like she was Etro sent.

"You're alright…good...that's good..."

Serah wanted to break down, but instead winded up choking out a laugh, her hand gently caressing his cheek still covered in traces of that mud they had rubbed on themselves from near the falls. "Of course I am silly. You think a fall like that could finish me off that easily?"

"Hah…stubbornness, it runs strong in your family, Farron…" Noel groaned, attempting to get himself up again, but was having trouble just like before. He was sapped of energy, too weak from all the blood loss.

How on Cocoon was she going to get him out of here?

"It's okay, I got you," looping his wounded arm over her shoulders, Serah wrapped her arm around the back of her friend's waist, uncaring of their nudity or proximity of their bodies as she'd struggled under his weight to help him sit up. "What happen to you? How did you get away from that thing, from Serpentress?"

Noel woozily shook his head from where he sat hunched over. "I didn't…it just disappeared on me, _literally_. Almost had me, up in the pillar back there…and then it…the distortions swallowed it, like those on the submit…the ones that brought us here."

"The distortions Mog mentioned was somebody tampering with time and space, right?" Serah glanced back up at the hill. "This doesn't make any sense. Why bring us here right into the path of that thing, and then send it away? Talk about being indecisive on what to do with us..."

So the broken blocks of crystal she found in the clearing and the damage done to the pillar, it was from Noel taking refuge there, and Serpentress must've been trying to get at him when it got interrupted by the distortions. Did that mean Serpentress wasn't in this time period anymore?

Still, there was nothing to say it wouldn't come back again, or that either one of them would be transported anywhere else through time, but at least they didn't have to deal with that thing for the time being.

"Tell me about it," Noel paused, looking beyond her. "Where's Mog…?"

"I don't know. I think, I think something took him. I haven't been able to find him anywhere. And um..." Serah thought about telling him about encountering Caius and Yeul, but maybe now wasn't the best time. She had to get Noel cleaned up first, to see what she could do to help him. The immortal Guardian and his Seeress could wait.

"And…what…?"

"Forget about it, it doesn't matter," gaining on a firm grip on Noel's body, Serah used her strength in her legs get the young man up on his feet. Her knees buckled as his taller frame leaned on hers; relying on her alone to support him, for without Serah was sure Noel wouldn't be able to stand. It was there with him pressed against her, Serah noticed how feverish his skin was, a thin film of sweat sticking to it. Noel was burning up.

No, the infection from his injured arm was already finding its way into his body. Serah couldn't waste any more time.

"Come on, there's a river not far from here. We'll go there, get you cleaned up and figure out what to do from-"

"Just leave me."

"What?" Serah looked up at his dazed face. "What are you talking about? I'm not leaving you behind, Noel."

"You can't save me, and it isn't a request," Noel closed his eyes, the strain to keep them open becoming a struggle as it was to keep talking. "Just find Mog…and go, leave here...I'm finished…"

"No, no you're not! Whatever it is I'll take care of it." Serah told him, holding him closer. "Everything will okay now, I promise."

Noel looked at her then with great sadness, agony woven onto his tired face. It was a look Serah recognized too well, that haunted her ever since her mother's passing in her youth.

The look of farewell.

"I'm not…sure promises, will do much good…"

"What do you mean?" Serah asked as Noel went to take a step forward, and his foot just suddenly seemed to catch on itself, and he went down; too quickly, too unbalanced.

On fast reflexes, Serah regained a hold of him before his head could hit the ground, both of them collapsing onto their knees alongside one another while she held him sternly by the waist. "Noel what's wrong? What's the…the…"

Her hand, it felt wet.

Confused, Serah pulled it away from where she'd had it pressed on his ribs and almost cried out in shock on discovering it coated in fresh blood…as was the soil Noel been laying on, thick splotches of it that she'd been too blind on seeing him again to notice.

He was still bleeding.

"Noel?" urgently Serah prompt him to sit more upright, leaning over to take a look…and her body went numb when she saw the far side of Noel's abdomen and chest were coated thick in that same blood, great amounts of it.

In amongst that dark red to stain his pale skin, Serah spotted the hideous puncher wounds near his ribs that had already long since swelled and discolored into darkening shades of purple.

Serah had no control of the new fear that awakened inside her.

"No…please no!"

Noel had been bitten.


	8. Venom

A/N: This was a difficult chapter to write, not just for the challenge I faced in putting it together, but that a lot of things were going on in my life at the time, and some themes in this made it near impossible to pick up a pen and keep going. And then, other days, I would find it a good coping mechanism for getting my stress and anxieties out. What I'm trying to say is, this was as torturous to write, as it will be for you to read it. And I really, really hope that you can forgive me for that.

Any who, I've kept you all waiting long enough. Please enjoy reading this very chunky piece of a chapter I would've loved to have titled: Serah the Badass.

Time for a Farron to shine…

* * *

><p><strong>Adam &amp; Eve<strong>

_Chapter 8 - Venom_

* * *

><p>Two and half years ago in New Bodhum, when the village itself was still being built, there was a young boy by the name of Kichiro who had snuck off into the wilds of Gran Pulse with his friends to go play. The fences weren't as secure back then and patrols weren't as heavy either, making it easy for someone to slip by unnoticed if they tried, especially for a child. And as misfortune had it, three boys, Kichiro among them, escaped without single person seeing them.<p>

Hours later when the two friends returned, Kichiro didn't. The boys had said they were playing a game of hide and seek, and Kichiro hadn't come out of hiding. They had no idea where he was and had spent most the afternoon looking for him, thinking their friend was just fooling around. It was only near sunset when team NORA and rest of the New Bodhum found out about Kichiro's disappearance, that search parties were sent out to find him.

But they were too late. They found the Kichiro dead, his body curled up amongst the shrubs he'd been hiding in. The cause of death had been from a bite to the throat by venomous snake; the swelling from the bite killing him in minutes as it shut off his airways before Kichiro had even the chance to crawl out of hiding. He was only seven years old.

It had been too heartbreaking to watch, as his parents had held him in their arms, crying for their son to wake up to avail. And then had looked towards both her and Snow, judging them with teary eyes without a single accusation spoken for what it was; just another death to be blamed on them for the cause of The Purge. Unable to cope with their loss, or to live in the same village as the ex-l'Cie, both mother and father had left days later.

To lose a child and so young, it was the pain no parent should ever go through, and Kichiro's death served as a reminder that Gran Pulse wasn't a paradise; it was dangerous to those not prepared for its harsh beauty. They were free of Fal'Cie, but not from danger, they never would be.

After that incident, her and Snow got some classes going to keep the kids preoccupied most the day, with better defenses being put into place to make sure no other children wandered off unsupervised from New Bodhum. And of course, each child was warned to go to the nearest adult if they ever suffered a snake bite or spotted any of the legless reptiles anywhere in the village.

One thing Serah also vowed to do after Kichiro's death was to study her hardest in perfecting the Esuna spell. She and half a dozen others in the village were already showing signs of magic; a gift once only gifted to l'Cie, despite none of them ever having been branded before the fall of Cocoon. Young and old, Serah had trained with them, doing her hardest to ensure they too could control the magic and use it safely, along with the Esuna spell, so if the day came again when somebody got bitten, they too could rid the venom from their body before it claimed another life.

It was one of Serah's proudest achievements, especially in that the youngest of the group to have been taught, a five year old girl named Honoka, had later gone on to save her brother's life when he was stung by a poisonous jelly fish floating in those shallow waters by the beach. If Honoka hadn't been there to use her magic within seconds of her brother going into a fit, he might not have survived.

But all that pride meant little to her now, for all those months of training were made useless, because like all Serah's other spells, Esuna wouldn't work. She tried and tried, putting everything she had into it, but Esuna wouldn't cleanse the venom away.

Noel, was dying…

"It's getting worse."

Serah had managed to get Noel inside the hollow base of a large tree near to where she had found him; the opening in the roots just wide enough for them to slip through, and hopefully, prevent anything nasty getting in. It wasn't the most secure of hideaways, but it was better than leaving him out in the wide open for anything to come across him. It was the best Serah could do, as getting Noel anywhere far on his legs in his condition was impossible, and he was deteriorating, _fast_.

The bite Noel had gotten from the snake's fangs hadn't penetrated deep enough to be fatal, and the wound itself was only weeping a small amount of blood. Unfortunately this was of little assurance after how much he'd lost already and when the bite itself on his ribs had already swelled up twice to what it had been in that time since finding him. If Serah didn't do something soon...

"Luck really…isn't on my side today, huh?" Noel struggled out with, yet Serah was too worried about him to tell if it'd been an inappropriate pun or not; and really, couldn't bring herself to ask.

The young man was prompt up against one of the roots inside that hollow tree, hers hand pressed to that tender snake bite that was causing him more pain than she wanted to think about as she kept trying to work the spells away to no success. Serah had enough previous experience to know that keeping Noel both still and calm would slow the speed of the venom. It wasn't a permanent solution, but it would buy him some time. What Serah could do with that spare give time however, she had no answers to. What solutions could she find out here in the middle of nowhere? They may as well have been in a desert all for the good it did.

And Noel, he didn't have long. She'd seen more than enough death in her life to be aware of that. But the worst thing about it was, that Noel knew that too. How couldn't she with the way he was looking at her, like every breath was a gift before he might draw his last.

"Serah..."

"Shut up! Just, shut up okay?" Serah kept the pressure applied to his ribs while she kept trying to summon a Esuna or a Cure spells; the heated skin and the smell of blood making her hands shake uncontrollably. "This isn't working. Why isn't it working? I gotta…there's has to be something else we can do. If we can find that artefact, maybe get you to a gate-"

Noel shook his head. "It'll take too long..."

"Then I'll go! I'll find someone and bring them through to help you." Serah said.

"The gates don't work, for other people…"

"I'll make it work! I don't care!" her concentration on the spell faltered, and it was a battle to bring that focus backs. "I'll find a way, somehow…I…"

The artefact had floated down to the falls. Unless it had landed on the riverside, it would've been washed far down stream by now. There was no way of getting to it in time, or finding the gate that it belonged to. And it was like Noel had said; nobody else could journey through those gates. It would be impossible to bring him help like a doctor or a magic user from the outside. Even on the off chance Serah found someone and she was able to bring a first aid kit through the gate, would anyone even have anti-venom for a snake as deadly of that from the future?

This powerlessness to help him was unbearable, and it terrified Serah on what might happen if Noel didn't get medical treatment soon, that even with the trauma and misery it'd brought her years before, Serah would become a l'Cie again, if it saved him. But just as much as she was scared, Serah was angry too, and what angered her was Caius. The Guardian had gone out of his way to help her, but when came to doing the same for Noel, the man had done nothing. The very boy he'd trained as a future Guardian for Yeul and he had helped Serah instead.

How could that man be so cruel? Had Noel's life no value anymore?

"I can't just let you…_I can't_…!"

A feverish hand rested on her cheek, wiping away the tears. The tiredness on Noel's pale face was insufferable, and she fought to stay strong as his words broke her from inside.

"Hate to admit it, but, you might have to…"

For someone who had given her so much strength, taught her _never_ to give up, it was the hardest thing to hear, Noel trying to make her accept that there might not be any hope for him. It was almost too much for Serah to take.

Snake bites were lethal, and from something as big as Serpentress and then to have lost so much blood…Noel could fight death, fight it with everything he had, but she could see in his eyes that it was the end for him, and that, he was _scared_ too, of losing that fight. And yet still, he tried to be brave for her, putting on a smile while the venom slowly ravaged his body. But Noel wasn't giving in, he continued to hold on, as if waiting for a miracle just like Serah was.

If Noel wasn't going to give in, then she wasn't either.

"Maybe, but we have to try," Serah retracted her hands away from where they were pressed at Noel's ribs, gently prising off his own hand to be rested tenderly her cheek, as she grasped it in front of her. "Come on Noel, _think_. You said Serpentress was from your time, right? Then there must be a connection! If someone out there is messing with us, then they must've chosen Serpentress because only _you_ would know about it; and that only _you_ would know how to make an antidote if one of us got bitten."

"But I don't…I've never seen one," Noel confessed, staring up through the hollow trunk of the tree, where the sky was nothing but a mere dot. "Grandmother, she told me about it, years ago…said it attacked hunters, before I was born…"

"Hunters? What happened to them? Did any survive?" Serah asked urgently. "Try and remember. You knew what Serpentress was. Did your grandmother teach you about it in one of her books? Show you a picture of it maybe?"

If their hunters had been attacked by Serpentress one time, then Noel's village must've taken some sort of precautions after that, just like her people in New Bodhum did when Kichiro died. The problem was however nobody in Noel's time period knew magic anymore, the ability lost through the generations as the world slowly died. But, if his grandmother told him about the attack when he was young, there must've been some reason behind it. He did say, she had always taught him useful things, to learn from past mistakes.

The young man's face strained with concentration, looking close to passing out.

"Don't…I don't know. Most dead, I think…one guy, he made it back but was..."

Serah leaned closer. "What? Noel what's the matter?"

He looked at her, eyes wide with realization. "Leaves…the leaves!"

"What?"

"Flans, Serah…the leaves from flans. The…the hunter that came back, he was bitten, but…healed him. Grandmother said…remember now," Noel gave a raspy chuckle, stopping when the pain got too much. "A convenience this is, ending up here…in the forest known for flans…"

Convenience was understatement. For the snake from Noel's time to be here, and the antidote to its venom being the leaves of a particular breed of flan mostly found in this forest, the words _setup_ may as well have been stamped all over it; the setup to a cruel conceived plot. But there was cure, there was really cure for him! No matter how risky it might be, an antidote wasn't something Serah could easily ignore.

"I don't understand, why a flan?" she asked, leaning closer.

"Because, they're immune to poisons…that's what, I tried to tell you before. They don't have organs, blood or hearts like us…" Noel said, shutting his eyes. "Must be why, so many…"

The schools of miniflans to have surrounded the trio when they first got here, there'd been hundreds of them. That must've explained why they hadn't been scared off by Serpentress. The snake could've swallowed them whole, but with that many miniflans, they could've fended off Serpentress no problem with their Fire spells. The only issue for Serah was that they weren't in that era anymore. Would the flans still even be here? This dying forest was so empty now, and Serah hadn't spotted any other monsters around, little less flans…

If Noel had any chance of surviving this, she had to try. Waiting here holding his hand, it wouldn't save him.

"But, but that's it right? I just have to get those leafs and you'll be okay? It'll help you?"

Noel slowly nodded; his breathing weak, but labored. "Think, so…unless, grandmother was wrong, it should. Any flan with…but…"

"I'll do it," anxiously Serah peered out passed the roots to where the outside awaited. "I will. Somehow, I'll a find one for you."

"Serah…"

"I know it's dangerous, Noel. It's like you said, it can't be a coincidence this is happening," she gripped his hand tighter, blinking the tears away before they could fall. "But I'm not letting you die, and I'm not leaving you behind. We're sticking together, and that's that."

She could see he wanted to detest. It was right there on his face, that earnest belief her life was of more value than his own. Whatever he might've said, she wouldn't have listened to him anyway, no matter how well thoughts out his reasons. Serah couldn't, not when Noel was looking worse for wear by the minute. And he was hurting a great deal more than he was letting on. The act he always used to pull when he tried to played it tough, like no injury could ever faze him or make him squeamish...that control on that pain was slowly beginning to slip, and it was enough of a warning that they both couldn't sit around talking forever.

Serah had to get a move on, even if she dreaded the thought of leaving him here like this.

A hand still grasped over his, softly Serah touched his cheek, stroking it. "You remember what you said to me about the Goddess before don't you, back in the Void Beyond? You said to never give up hope, and to stick things out. I'll do what I can, but I need you to keep fighting this, Noel. Don't let it win...so stay awake. Promise me, you'll stay awake until I get back."

Through the deliriousness he battled to overcome, Serah saw something familiar there, a look she'd seen Noel give her many times before in the past, but only now did she truly understand it. The things she was still, too scared to say.

He squeezed her hand. "I'll, try…"

It was the best promise Noel could give her; and all that could be said.

She had to go.

"You'll be okay," she whispered, brushing the damp locks of hair from tired his face. "I'll make sure of it."

Unsure if it was appropriate or not at first, but inevitably putting those doubts aside, Serah leaned down and a lightly kissed the young man's forehead, their gazes lingering upon each other for a long time, before she finally pulled away. And reluctantly Serah turned to leave and to go find Noel what he needed…when he suddenly grabbed her arm.

"Wait, Serah…"

When she looked back, there was pleading in the young man's eyes, the need to tell her something, in case they never got another chance.

No, they weren't going to say goodbye. Serah wouldn't let him do it, let_ herself_ do it. Noel would survive, he had to…

"I'll be right back," Serah promised, mustering the bravest smile that she could for him. An unwillingness to let go of her, in the end Noel could resist no more, that grip of his loosening; hand trailing down her wrist to grasp her own hand briefly, before slipping away.

And Serah silently prayed as she left, it wouldn't be for the last time…

* * *

><p>They watch the pink haired woman leave the hideaway beneath the roots of the dying tree, her head whipping around, searching the forest before she finds her way and runs off in the direction of the crystal pillar.<p>

Sad green eyes remain on the girl until she is gone, a gaze soon to fall upon that of the tree, wanting to go to it, run to its base.

A protective arm wraps around the Seeress's shoulder, her Guardian conscious of that wish.

"Come, there is nothing more to be done here."

A small nod she gives, her tears all too real as the gusts of chaos that consume them. And to another time they go; to a not too distant future…

* * *

><p>"Come on Serah, <em>focus<em>."

She was back at the crystalized tree, with no answers on where go from there on out. There hadn't been any flans around before, and her quick jog around that pillar confirmed as much, long before Serah came to that conclusion. She needed a lead, something that told her where the miniflans had gotten to. Then again, there was always the possibility they had simply died out in the last hundred years or so...

"There's got to be flans around here somewhere," Serah glanced up around at the branches, but no answers were found out there either. Noel would know what to do. He had tracked monsters down for meat back in his time, and had used that trick several times on their journey to hunt down a particular monster or two. She should've thought to ask him for advice, or allowed him to teach her when he was well. Even if she was a vegetarian, things like that seemed trivia now.

Yeul had led her here, and she had seen this pillar in her dream as well. If Noel's suspicions on this being a set up were right, then being brought here too wasn't a luck of the draw. And if so, it was up to the force out there doing all this to make the next move, if Serah wasn't already about to wandering into more danger. She just had to pray this was one trap she could find a way out of.

"Hope, if you're watching this. I could really do with your help right now…"

"Kupo?"

That soft and distant childlike voice had Serah immediately turning in surprise; her instantly leaping in her chest on spotting the small glimmer of a soft pink light hovering near the edge of that clearing by the trees. The light radiated from a gem, and attached right on the end of it, was-

"Mog!"

The moogle went soaring towards her like a speeding bullet, crying out a kupo of relief on flying into Serah's arms, almost knocking her back a step as she caught him. Mog was erratic in emotions; jumping between happiness and tears he was so overwhelmed to see her; that for once, her magical companion didn't complain on being overly hugged like a cuddly toy.

"I found you! I found you, kupopooo!" the moogle squeaked, wriggling into closer to Serah's embrace as she held him. After getting separated, and Noel getting hurt, she was afraid she might never find the moogle again, especially after the horrible dream she had when passing out. But he was here with her, he was safe.

"Oh Mog…" gently she pulled the moogle away from her, grasping the sides of his chibi face while he floated there, wings flapping. "Are you're alright? You didn't get hurt did you?"

"Mog is ok. Springy as can be, kupo!" the moogle said cheerfully, before sulking a little, "But I couldn't find Noel or the artefact anywhere, kupo! It got scary…"

"I can't complain with you there," Serah said, studying Mog closely. She didn't see any snake bites on him anywhere, and he seemed healthy, meaning Serpentress hadn't been able to get to him before it up and vanished. That was one thing to be grateful about at least. But the moogle was missing his clock staff; a tool that might've served great use in transforming her into a miniflan again, and save them a great deal of trouble. Then again, it probably wouldn't work anyway, like the moogle's other spells hadn't before.

But Noel though, he was still...

"I'm just glad you're safe, but we've got bigger problems to worry about right now than finding the artefact," her voice cracked as she let the moogle go, and closing her hands together in front of her chest. "Noel's been poisoned! Serpentress got him, it bit him. He managed to get away and I have him somewhere safe, but I don't know what how long he's got. You have to help me find a flan that has leaves, it's the only thing that'll work as an antidote."

The moogle's ears perked up in alarm, looking as if he would suffer mini meltdown…when he pressed a mitten paw under his chin, his mind slipping away into his thoughts. And he turned away, kupoing quietly.

"What is it? What's wrong…?"

He looked back at her, hesitating before he broke to her the news.

"I know where to find a flan with leaves, kupo."

"You do!?" Serah felt her heart jump with excitement, _hope_. "Please, you have to take me to it right away. Show me where it is!"

The moogle twitched nervously; then slowly, he nodded.

"Follow me, kupo…"

Through the trees Mog led her, the two hurrying along as the moogle retraced his steps from where he'd previously come from. After all the shortcuts taken crossing through muddy ground, pushing her way through foliage to maneuvering passed fallen trees to keep up with the moogle, the two of them finally winded up at the base of some extremely high cliffs. It was like a huge wall of black rock, jagged and heavy in moss and weeds. And before them was the entrance to something, a cave.

Far into thae darkness, Serah could see faintest speck of light coming from somewhere inside…

"It's in there, kupo."

In small steps Serah moved forward, only to find herself stopping, air caught in her lungs.

This was too strange. Flans were usually out in lush habitats or living up high in the trees. What was one doing here, in a cave? To go trudging into the dark with monster lurking somewhere inside wasn't a plan Serah was particular thrilled of, and everything was quite in there, much too quite.

"Mog, this flan…is it, friendly?" Serah asked.

"I don't know, kupo. When I awoke, the flan was sleeping. It was how I was able to escape," the moogle kept his distance from the cave like she was, hovering near to her side. "But you should be careful, kupo, especially you."

Serah dug her toes into the dirt. "Why do you say that?"

Mog gulped, his wings beating that much quicker. "You will see, kupo."

The flan, if it was dangerous or tried to attack them, they didn't have anything to defend themselves with. How could they be so sure this flan would be as friendly as the miniflans they had met in the past, long enough for it to see reason? They had to be able to convince it _somehow_, and there was no way could they back out and let Noel down. If worse came to worse, they could simply outrun it. Flans had never been fast monsters on their feet since they didn't have any feet to speak of. But running away wouldn't get them any closer to finding Noel his antidote.

When it came down to it, it was all or nothing.

Serah stood strong with her shoulders back, taking a deep breath. "Let's go, Mog. Stay close, and be ready to translate for me. If there's any chance of getting through this peacefully, we have to try."

"Kupo…"

With a final look to the forest, everything in Serah warning her to turn back, into the cave they went.

Visibility quickly dropped the further they went in, with only Mog's glowing gem to stop her from tripping over. Yet even with that light, they could barely see a few feet in front of them; the darkness obscuring too much to tell if anyone or anything was in there with them, while the forest behind them looked more distant every time Serah spared a glance back, as if that outside world might disappear forever.

It was colder in here too; the draft flowing through leaving her teeth chattering and body shiverish, with the constant dripping of water running from the ceiling to splash on her skin. The stone ground was moist and slippery in places, scattered in rocks to catch painfully underfoot, and with nearly each step, sticky goo stuck to her bare feet.

Mog was right; a flan had been staying here.

The obscurity of that cave was soon to be left behind, as that tiny prick of light Serah had spotted near the entrance of the cave grew steadily larger the longer they walked, getting closer. The light was from a narrow passage opening up in the cave wall ahead. Not to the outside, the light was too blue to be that…more crystal?

On stepping through boundary of dark into light, their eyes quick to adjust, Serah let out a silent gasp at the massive cavern she and Mog were now residing in. It was huge, like the dome of Old Bodhum to have once hoisted its firework displays; the cavern reaching higher than any room she had ever seen. And the entire place was full of that glowing crystal, all of it had once come crashing in like a ginormous tidal wave from an opening in the ceiling centuries ago; left frozen in time as if the hands of a time within this place stood still.

It was like seeing the remains of her hometown after the death of Orphan all over again; nothing left but just clashes of crystalized waves to have consumed everything in a chaotic sea of destruction. Serah had cried when she had seen it not long after losing Lightning, just as she nearly had when she, Noel and Mog had visited the lake outside Bresha Ruins, and memories cut too deep to stay there long.

Though there was indeed wonder, little beauty to be discovered in this place for her...and any trace of that beauty was soon to be lost when she began to realize that there were figures within those rippling waves of the crystal.

At first Serah mistake it took it to be an illusion, a trick of the light perhaps, yet they were no such thing. Within that crystal, there were _women_. Hundreds and hundreds of women…

Serah staggered back, a hand grasped over her mouth to suppress her scream. There was so many of them, hundreds, maybe thousands of women made of pure crystal, trapped in graceful or romanticized poses with their bodies fused into the waves; not a single one of them showing any sign of distress.

Something wasn't right.

Their bodies looked imperfect, as if water over the years had eroded them away; nothing like the crystal of Vanille that the trio had found in Oerba at a time when Cocoon still floated in the sky. And the longer Serah was to look in terror at those crystal women, the more flaws hers eyes began to pick out; figures with arms or legs longer than the others, a face or body drooping heavily on one side, to some missing limbs altogether, as if not even fully formed.

These women, they weren't l'Cie that had fulfilled their focus. This was crystal from the pillar, yes, but these figures were just sculptures, nothing more.

Floating with relief Serah could see that now, that great amounts of the crystal in the cavern had been eaten away, carving trails through the waves that the sculptures spawned from; like mermaids bursting out from the deep blue. Everywhere, even on the ceiling, was covered in these amateur looking sculptures; all of different sizes, with some no bigger than herself, to those the size of buildings.

But it became very clear as Serah edged in further into that cavern, that the sculptures were all of the same person, each one molded into the image of a petite young woman with flowing hair…that…

She grasped at the ringlets of her pink hair, a nausea overtaking her empty stomach.

They was her, _the sculptures were all of her!_

"This is where I woke up, kupo," said the moogle floating nearby; voice a whisper, though Serah was barely with it, too horrified at the scene in front of her and those crystal faces on those sculptures all resembling hers. They weren't crafted from tools or from human hands. These sculptures were made by something that had the time and means to melt the crystal away, for it would've taken decades, perhaps even longer to have created them all.

The repulsion those sculptures gave her, at the thought somebody made them after all she'd gone through as a l'Cie, made Serah want to destroy every last one of those crystals…

"Mog what, what is all this?"

The moogle's nose twitched nervously. "I don't know, kupo…"

"How can you not-" Serah hadn't even the chance to quiz Mog for more when they heard the loud gurgles of a creature from inside that cavern. And she spotted a large orange figure moving from beyond the sea of sculptures, shifting between the figures petite and tall, like distorted images seen through misty glass.

Something was coming.

"Quickly," Serah snatched a startled Mog from the air, bundling him in her arms as she took them into hiding, finding shelter behind two life sized sculptures joined together like siamese twins. Couched down, she and Mog stayed there huddled together, as a monster slowly emerged from a trail through that crystal ocean, and the strange dream Serah had in the forest came back to her in that instance; the dream of something inhuman scooping Mog out of the water with orange gooey fingers and carrying him away.

She should've recognized it straight away in that dream, yet only now did the truth piece itself together on what breed of flan it was that had rescued her friend from the dangerous rapids.

A flanbanero.

It was tall, nothing like Royal Ripeness, but still tall. Its colors not as vibrant as other flanbanero and its plump tomato body looking almost sagged like a partially deflated balloon, with the corner of those silver eyes drooping. Injured or Sick? No, more like the flan was _old_, very old. Whatever aged it was didn't really interest her, for there on flanbanero's stork were the leaves Serah needed to save Noel; a whole bunch of them.

With the height the flan was, there was no way she could reach up high enough to snatch one without being noticed, and the leafs looked too thick for the Mog to tear off quickly enough to make a break for it. The flan would attack them if they even tried, not doubts on that.

How were they going to do this...?

The flanbanero's body turned sluggishly from left to the right, searching around the for _something_. Time went on, and it didn't let up. The flan just kept slithering around; searching, constantly searching for what couldn't be seen in that cavern of crystal.

Was it possible...had it heard them come in, smelt them?

"You have to talk to it, kupo."

Serah looked down at the moogle, his nose wriggling, the lines of those unseen eyes furrowed in a worried frown.

"But Mog…I don't…"

A miniflan was easy to deal with, but the flanbanero that they inevitably grew into with age? Any time the trio had encounter such flans had been met with hostility. And this flanbanero was huge, larger than any Serah had ever met. What chance did they have against this thing?

The moogle gently tugged himself free, staring into her doubting gaze. "You must or Noel will die, kupo."

"I…" Serah fell quiet, a shiver running over her skin on suddenly becoming aware they were no longer alone.

Through the gaps between the joined arms of those twin sculptures, a large silver eye was looking _directly _at her and Mog; a huge orange blob seen through the crystal.

A scream escaped Serah's throat, haste in retreating back with the moogle as that giant of a flan crawled out from beside those sculptures, blocking off their escape. The silvery orbs of the flan's eyes slowly widened on contact with the pair, its toothless mouth sliding open further the longer it stared at the pair without a sound. But no closer did the flanbanero move.

Serah's immediate impulse was to run, having seen enough here to want to stay away for life. But it was the thought of Noel lying there, dying inside that tree that stopped her from taking such action in going the cowardly route.

She couldn't run away, not when Noel needed her.

A quick look at the moogle and her shaking hands squeezed tight, Serah approached the flanbanero very, _very_ slowly.

Her heart beating like a hammer, she gulped. "Um...h…hello…?"

The flan was still as if its body had set in rock solid, its drooling mouth remaining wide open; slimy face blank and unresponsive. And then suddenly, immobile the flan was no more, as it made a move towards her; arms stretching out.

A sculpture Serah's back bumped into, cornered into a small area of those crystal carvings with nowhere else to go as the flanbanero just kept coming, gurgling loudly in delight.

"Mog hurry, say something to it!" she yelled.

"Like what, kupo?"

"I don't know! Just get it to-" Serah gasped as one of the flan's arms wrapped around her waist, slime sticking to her skin as her body was lifted off from the ground. She kicked and wriggled in a panic, yet nowhere near powerful enough to free herself, or to stop the flanbanero from drawing her close to its putrid smelling mouth.

Serah let out a terrified scream, shutting her eye from fear of herself about be swallowed whole by the monster.

But, nothing happened…

Fearful she cracked open her eyelids, half expecting to see the insides of a flan's mouth or stomach even. Speechless however Serah was left, on discovering she was in fact being cradled in the arms of that flanbanero, those large eyes softening at her with those cheerful gurgles from its throat sounding almost similar to a purr.

The flanbanero, it was _hugging_ her?

Mog went soaring up to speak in that flan language, and by the harshness of it, to tell the monster off. Whatever Mog said hadn't worked, for the flanbanero didn't listen, and only continued to cuddle Serah in adoration, leaving her stunned and at a loss at what was going on.

Then her brain finally kicked in.

"E-excuse me, I know that you're happy to see me any everything, and I'm happy to see you too!" Serah squirmed at getting more slimed by the flan. "But um, would you mind putting me down, _please?_"

The flanbanero obeyed almost immediately, carefully setting Serah down on her two feet without any further protest. And surprised, she stepped back, shaken up from the expressive flan that left her body covered in a thin trail of orange goo; the smell cringe worthy enough to have her turning her nose in disgust. How her friends at NORA would've laughed at her for at getting hugged by massive flan; somthing in itself that sounded ridiculous.

The flan had understood her though, meaning it knew English too, just like those colorful flans had in Sunleth Waterscape years before when Serah had told them to stop attacking the crystal pillar. So strange…

The flanbanero gave a number of long bellowing groans, trying to speak to her.

"The flan says that he's missed you, kupo."Mog was quick to translate. fluttered to her side.

"Missed me?" Serah wiped the orange goo from her face and the rest of her, removing it with little succeed. "But where? I mean, how does he know us, know me?"

Understanding her question, the flan spoke in its gibberish, those silver eyes looking her up and down, with something almost..._familiar_ about them.

Mog spoke. "It was here in this forest, when he was a small flan, kupo. He remembers it like it was yesterday, when he saw the most beautiful flan no other could compare to, kupo."

It was then it clicked, and Serah just knew then which flan this was. The stork decorated with so many leafs; whose big puppy eyes were like those of a certain flan that had barely even a day ago for Serah, had asked to be her mate.

She couldn't believe it.

"You…you're that miniflan!"

The flanbanero's gooey face lit up when she said that, as it knowing straight away which of those hundreds of flan she meant; the corners of its wide mouth rising, resembling a smile. With a joyous sound the creature went to pick up her for another clingy embrace, but Serah was quick to back off, holding up her hand.

"Wait!" to Serah's relief, the flanbanero listened once again. "There's a reason I'm here today. Truth is, I need your help, and you're only one who can."

A happy gurgle came from the flan.

"He says he will help you in any way he can, kupo," Mog said.

"Okay…"

Well that was good, but that was only _half_ the job was done. Now came the tricky part on convincing it to give up one of its leaves and to explain so in a way that a flan would be able to understand. Noel was counting on her to get it right.

Please, let it help.

Serah gripped her hands together, mentally counting to three. And then, she began.

"The friend that was with me on that day when we first met...my um, _mate_. Well he's here too, in this forest with me," Serah bowed her head, catching her breath. "But he's very sick. A large snake, Serpentress, it poisoned him when we were separated from each other. And I…he's dying…"

Serah couldn't think about it, of Noel all alone in his battle to cling to life while she was here in this cavern. Nor could she escape the frightening possibility that he would lose that fight in her absence. He'd always been strong, more than her...but still...

"He told me…Noel said the leaves from a flan will save his life, that it's the only thing that will rid the poison from his body," she looked up at the flanbanero again, unable to hold back that nagging fear in her gut at being in the monster's presence. "That's why I need your help. You're the only one who can save him. If you don't, I'll lose him."

The flanbanero was silent; mind slow in taking in all that she had said. And then unexpectedly, the flan groaned at her, its body slouching over as it turned away solemnly, and didn't look back.

It wasn't the response she had anticipated.

Time not their ally; Mog flew up to the giant flan to find out what was wrong. Thus there, the two spoke in that strange language, words passing between flan and moogle of which Serah couldn't figure out, leaving her mind in a more jumbled mess as to what was going on.

Had she said it wrong? Didn't it understand?

Serah came close to interrupting them, when the moogle finally finished, returning to where she stood arms nervously crossed.

"Well, what did he say?"

Mog tensed, tapping his paws together. "The flan says he is sad, because he thought you had come to meet him, kupo. He's been waiting these many centuries to see you again."

"Centuries…?"

A lonely moan sounded from the flan, sulking even that more as it refused to turn around. Serah thought it to be some joke, but one look at that flanbanero made it clear that it was no lie. This explained now why the sculptures were all of her and none of Mog, and especially, none of _Noel_.

It didn't just like her. The flanbanero was in _love_ with her.

Serah clenched her fists, marching forward to confront the creature "Listen I...I'm sorry. I'm sorry this isn't what you wanted. But if you don't help me, Noel will die. And if not then, then tell me where to find other flans that will."

The flan blew out a bored huff from his drolly mouth, flicking its gaze elsewhere as it spoke in its language.

"He says there are no other flans, kupo," Mog explained, hurrying out the translation. "They left the forest with the other monsters, sensing the end draws near, and sough to escape from it. The ground beneath quakes and soon will split, and when it does all life will perish, kupo."

Serah felt her body go cold. "The end? You mean the fall of Cocoon! It's soon!?"

"I think so, kupo…"

No, it couldn't be true. She thought were close to 500AF by a few decades or so, but not _this_ close! If the ground was starting tremor enough to scare the monsters away, and to have sensed something wasn't quite right with the planet, then it couldn't be too far along from Cocoon's demise. For all they were aware of, the pillar might crumble at any given minute!

Not only did she have to save Noel, but now they had to get themselves off Cocoon before it crashed onto Gran Pulse, among everything else. When would this nightmare stop getting any worse?

"T-then it has to be you! Please!" Serah shuffled around to face the flan, practically pleading with it. "Noel needs an antidote, and _soon_. You have to let me make him better, so I can take him away from here and to somewhere safe."

The flan however wasn't so compliant or as eager to please her anymore. Annoyance brewed in its body language, bumbling out its words to her.

Mog hung his head, gulping "He asks 'why should he save the puny one, when it is the puny one that stole you away?' kupo."

"_What_? Because, because he's my friend that's why!" Serah said in defense, angry. "And he didn't steal me away, not in that way you're thinking..."

More gurgles the flan made.

"But you said he was your mate, kupo."

"No I, but that was…Look it doesn't matter who or what he is, I just want to save him. He'll die if I don't!" Serah was losing her patience, barely able to keep herself together. "Doesn't that meaning anything to you? Don't you care?"

So was there another huff from the flanbanero, almost appearing to roll its eyes at the human and moogle; interest quickly beginning to fade, before the flan added something else.

Mog's small ears hung low. "He says he will do anything for you, but…_only_ you. He will not help the puny one. He won't save Noel's life, kupo."

"No! You can't do that!" Serah yelled, only to be silenced when the flanbanero let out a deep bellowing cry, shaking the confines of that cavern. The flan puffed its body out imposingly, flaring up in an intense red as if threatening to attack her with magic; the silver flames burning in its eyes revealing its true monstrous nature.

But Serah didn't back down, even as Mog shot in front to protect her, she stood strong.

"Please, Noel's sick and he needs me! Do whatever you want with me, but don't punish him for my mistakes," Serah swallowed her fear, her eyes stinging with tears she refused to let the monster see. "If you had any idea of what we've been through, you'd understand…it was him, all him. I'd of never left my home if he hadn't shown up, I'd of never…that's why it's all my fault, I couldn't let him go! And now he's hurt because of me, because I couldn't say goodbye!"

Messing with the timeline, it was a dangerous thing. Hope had often warned them of this, reminding them never to reveal themselves as time travelers to anyone, or to take things of significance from one era and leave them in another. But especially of all, he had said not to intervene with the lives of others, no more than they had to outside of resolving the paradoxes. To do anything of the sort might have devastating consequences on the timeline, and change history for lives that might've been left unaffected without their meddling. One life lost on their part could wipe out generations of people; children who were never born; the inventions from the great minds that never were, and so on...

Her and Noel, they weren't supposed to be together, not forever. When their journey was over, they would have to say goodbye and go back to their own times; the same for Mog to his own distant world. They had to, there was no other choice.

Because of Serah's unwillingness to let go, Noel's life was on the line. He was suffering for her own selfishness in refusing to say goodbye…but how could she; say goodbye to the one person that had helped her to find hope again after being without Lightning and Snow for so long? The first person in the three years, Serah could really open up to almost nearly about anything?

Noel cared about her, and she cared about him, more than she could've ever realized. She'd stopped seeing Noel as the future boy, and saw him as someone special, who she couldn't bear the thought of disappearing when their journey came to its end. She wanted _him…_she wanted Noel to become part of her life. Whatever the outcome, she wanted him to stay.

'_You should come live with us. I mean, if you can't ever go back to your time, you're welcome to stay at New Bodhum. I'm sure Snow and the others wouldn't mind.'_

'_And Gadot?'_

'…_Debatable, but he'd come around. If not, Snow would definitely talk some sense into him for you.'_

'_Hah, well…it's kind of you to offer.'_

But she was so naïve to it, to everything.

"I didn't even know how much he meant to me, and then when I did, I just wanted to blank it out, pretend everything was fine like before. I hated myself, for betraying Snow and everything we had. It's all I've ever done! Destroy the lives of others and everyone I ever loved. That's why Noel has to live! I have to tell him everything, that I'm sorry! Please, I'm begging you, I'll do anything!"

The cherry red brightness to the flanbanero body had burnt out, intimation smoldering to nothing but ashes. It was silent, studying her with in its child-like curiosity reminiscent of when it was miniflan.

Serah may as well have spoken to a wall for all the good it did, or so she first believed until flan finally spoke. Yet there was no gentleness to come from its gibberish talk; not even a hint of mercy in its eyes. And that, worried her…

"Mog, what did he say?"

The moogle floated there unbearably quiet, the crystal bobble tipping over his face.

"Just tell me!" Serah demanded.

Mog flinched, and reluctantly turned around to face her. "He says, if you will do anything 'then stay with me until the end, never leave me and I will save the puny one'. That's what he asks, kupo."

Stay here, in Sunleth Waterscape until the end? Until Cocoon came crashing down onto Gran Pulse…?

The blood drained from her face. "But…I can't!"

The flanbanero let out an angry groan, so loud that small rocks of crystal rained down on them from the ceiling and shook Serah to her bones. A dangerous temper in the monster was beginning to reignite.

"If you don't, he says he won't help us, that he will find and kill the puny one to end his suffering," Mog squeaked fluttering back and forth apprehensively. "What should we do, kupo?"

All this time…all that affection for a human it had met once in its youth, craving her like an obsession that had it hide away here throughout its life, creating sculpture after sculpture in Serah's image. It wanted so much to obtain the real thing, that it was willing to kill those she cared about in the process to get just that. Yet the flan's obsession of her alone wasn't why it had stayed. The flanbanero was old, that to leave this forest and find a way off Cocoon, if there even was one…the flan would never make the trip. That was why it couldn't leave; it didn't want to die along. But Noel, he would die if she didn't get back to him with an antidote.

The clock was ticking.

"For one leaf, you'll let me save him…just one?"

Through that tough exterior, the flan's eyes softened at the news, sounding pleased.

"As many as it takes for you to stay, kupo," Mog translated as he left her side.

Serah gripped her hands tighter. "And you promise, you'll let me take it to him, to my friend?"

Irritation showed once more upon the flan.

"No, I will take it. You must stay here forever. Forever stay with me, kupo" Mog translated again, his voice more distant than before. "Tell me where and I will go, kupo."

Serah glimpsed passed the flanbanero, noticing the moogle wasn't anywhere near them anymore. Instead Mog was hovering close to the ground, his mitten paw fetching up something from the base of one the sculptures to have fallen from the ceiling; a crystal, a _sharp_ piece of crystal.

Mog hid the fragment behind his back in the instance that flan shifted to moan questionably at the moogle, having noticed Serah was hesitating for reasons the monster couldn't figure out yet.

This flan, it wasn't going to let her leave. And there was no way she could tell the flan where Noel was, not after it had displayed jealousy towards him in calling him puny, and threatened to take the young man's life if she didn't accept its proposal of a suicide pact. Either way, it was willing kill him if it got her to stay.

Mog was already thinking two steps ahead.

So, she joined him.

"Wait!"

Serah called the flan to get its attention, letting her fears slip away behind the mask she placed on herself as natural as could be as soon as the flanbanero looked back at her.

"Can I tell you a story before I decide? I promise it won't take long."

Confusion flickered across the flan's face, interest setting in, all focus put upon her.

"It's about some flans actually, you'll like it," Serah said, turning shyly away. She walked slowly to one of the sculptures of herself; its arms out beckoning with love…and Serah grasped at her arm where the brand had once been printed on her skin, trying her best not to shiver.

"There were these two sisters that loved each other very much. They went through a lot together, so much you wouldn't believe. On the day they thought everything would be okay, the eldest suddenly disappeared, as if the ground swallowed her when no one was looking. The young flan was heartbroken, not understanding where her sister had gone. She was convinced the eldest was still alive somewhere, yet nobody believed her; that is, all for except one flan, one of whom the young sister cared for dearly, if just as much."

Serah spun around, briefly catching sight of the Mog sneaking up slowly on the flanbanero towards its stork. She tucked her arms behind her back, forcing herself to faintly smile despite everything within her being against it. "He left for her, that flan, to go and find the eldest sister. But years went by and neither did one of the flans she loved return. The young flan, she almost gave up hope of seeing them both again…and then, one night, a star fell from the sky, and a blue flan appeared. This blue flan, he told her he had been sent by her sister, that they could go and see her if she went with him."

The flanbanero listened, its rage being calmed by her every word that it was hooked on, allowing her to continue while blissfully unaware of the moogle getting ever so close, but not close enough, not yet.

Serah nudged back a step, her hand secretly closing around the thin wrist of the crystal sculpture behind her. With a firm tug, the hand broke off, the sound of it breaking concealed under a sweet laugh. "The young flan, well, she was a little scared of him at first. The blue flan was different than all the others, and she wasn't sure if she could trust him enough to believe him. It took a little while, but in the end he convinced her. And over time, she came to care deeply about him too…and maybe, he did as well, in this own special way."

A pleased gurgle escaped the flan, melting away in a sea of content as it studied her longing, leaning close.

"The young flan made a promise to herself, one unspoken to anybody, but one she vowed to keep," Serah gripped at the clump of sculpture in her hand, her feet sliding into a stance, "She promised that no matter what happened, she would protect that blue flan until she found her sister again. She would protect him always, **no matter what!**"

Serah swung her arm, sending that the crystal hand of that sculpture went hurdling through the air. By the time the flan realized what she had done, it was too late; a thunderous wail soon erupting from the flanbanero to writher in pain at the sharp crystal lodged in its eye, silver droplets splattering across the radiant cavern floor.

Angrily the flan flung out an arm, narrowly missing Serah's by inches as the strength of that monster decapitated several of the sculptures behind her.

It was now or never.

"Mog!"

The moogle didn't have to be told twice. He got straight to it, grabbing onto one of the flanbanero's leafs and began cutting away with that shard of crystal. The flan howled louder when he did so, the monster twisting its body frantically and bringing Mog along for the ride as the moogle desperately held on.

It was to be flan's thrashing actions to shake Mog off him that were eventually to be its undoing; the force of the small moogle being swung around so hard it tore the last of the leaf off that Mog clung to, throwing moogle clear of the monster along with his prize.

"I got it, kupo!" Mog yelled in a great panic as the flanbanero slithered hastily towards him, large drooling arms out to take the leaf back.

Serah was already moving, pulling the brittle arm off the handless sculpture, and charged, stabbing the pointed end of crystal into the flan's side. Distraught the creature cried out, stopping it just long enough for Mog to get away.

"Go! Take it to Noel!"

"But Serah, kupo!?"

She pushed the crystal in further, the pain holding the flan off for a little longer. "Just _**go**__!_ I'll be fine! I'm right behind you!"

"Ku...Kupo!" Mog nodded, resisting the urge to stay for her any longer. And he flew out the cavern, leaf in hand.

The flanbanero turned, bending down to make a grab at Serah, but too quick she for its; easily dodging through those clingy arms of jello that had her cringing at the mere contact with her skin.

She couldn't let it catch her.

Running, Serah made a break for it like a fugitive free from her ceil, her left arm scathing the side of one sculptures and near to tripping on another at the frightening cries of that flan behind her. At that cavern entrance, did Serah dare herself into looking back;her immediate thoughts to escape it for good wavering in that instance, feet falling still.

It hadn't pursued her, the flanbanero was just sitting there where she had left it wounded; its left eye ruptured, weeping that silver fluid like tears, with the piece of the crystal sculpture still stuck in its side, bleeding out orange goo. No more was the flan engulfed in a fit of rage...for it just stared at her brokenly, a sad deep moan resounding out from the monster's throat, at having been betrayed, and by all things, _her_.

For a fleeting moment, guilt consumed her.

"I'm sorry…"

Serah turned away, and took off into the dark reaches of that cave; running blind in the dark for the daylight at the far end of it that she couldn't reach quick enough. Even once she made it outside, free from the things she had seen, Serah could still hear the flanbanero from deep inside that cavern; its wails of distress ringing out through the forest, with the sounds of crystals being smashed apart; over and over again…

* * *

><p>Stay wake…he has to stay awake…<p>

Tired and dizzy, everything aches. His ribs in agony every time that he breathes; pulse palpitating out of rhythm, trembling in his chest like dying songbird.

Scared…

He tries to distract from it, to think of better times, anything to keep conscious. But both a difficulty and frustration it is, his mind scratched blank.

Images swirl, colors and shapes; sounds dulling with his vision.

So, tired…

…

…

…

**Someone is here.**

* * *

><p>Sending Mog off on his own had been a mistake. They were so focused on getting the leaf from the flanbanero and escaping unharmed, that Serah hadn't had stop to tell him precisely where it was she had hidden Noel in the forest.<p>

Worst yet, she was having trouble finding her way back, still being shaken up by her experience inside that cavern that was sure to leave her unable to look at any other flans the same way again. She swore, the next time Noel ever said, 'they're just flans' to any that showed affection to her, she really would hit him.

But first things first…

"Mog, where are you!?"

Serah stumbled to a stop by a large fallen tree, her hand clutching at the cut on her arm still stinging from where she had caught it on the sculpture. The forest around her was sinisterly still more than before, the pockets of sky seen through the branches swamped entirely over with clouds, with the air heavy in the smell of old wood rot. But no where, could she see the moogle.

She called out, nearly screaming.

"Mog!"

The distant roar from the forest far behind her made her nearly leap out of her skin, quick to make Serah get on the move again, not wanting to stay longer in case the flanbanero had second thoughts and came after her.

Mog was smart. He wouldn't have gone off searching for Noel without knowing where to look first, not without her. And that was what Serah was counting on, that Mog had the sense to go back the crystalized tree where they had found each other, and that he would be there waiting for her.

Serah just had to get there, and then everything would be alright. They had to be...but that pillar, where on Cocoon was that-

She slid out from some bushes, and saw something through the trees, _light._

There!

Heart pounding Serah moved forward, her run weakening to a jog for having used up most her energy most on the way here, no thanks to the flan that had scared her witless. Even now the repercussion of her actions worried her if the monster was to ever find them again in this forest. Noel definitely wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. He couldn't afford to be...she had to make him well again.

Onto the clearing surrounding that crystal pillar Serah was to be once again, relief barely having time to settle when she saw something lying on the dirt amongst the shards of crystal.

It was a piece of the tore leaf from the flanbanero, and resting right on top of it...was her bow.

What in the-

"Mog!?" Serah hurried over, crouching down to retrieve the weapon, its metal cold to the touch. "Are you okay? Mog, say something!"

No answer. The pink gem on the bow didn't glimmer, and regardless of how hard she shook the weapon or how loud she called his name, Mog didn't respond or transform back into his original form. If he could hear her, or was conscious of her presence, he wasn't showing it.

What was going on? Why had Mog turned into a bow?

Movement stirred in the corner of Serah's eye, something _big_.

Hissing...

"No, not again!"

She shot up on her feet, raising that bow forward, when her body suddenly went numb and any command her brain gave to fire was lost in that paralyzing fear when she saw the giant snake that was Serpentress slide out from the forest; its head raised high off the ground, like a behemoth on its hind legs ready to attack. And there clutched within its jaws, like a dog with a bone, was-

An adrenaline rush burst through Serah's veins, the pain tightening in her chest as she nearly dropped that bow entirely.

"No, no…_**Noel!**_"

He was unconscious, lying there helpless, _trapped_. His head hung back with eyes sealed shut and his every limb slack and lifeless. The rows of razor teeth from that snake, they…they were impaled into his body, blood dripping like wine from injuries too grave, too deep...

The snake closed its jaws tighter around the young man, sinking its teeth in even further. And from Noel's bluing parted lips, came a husky cry of pain.

Serah's fury knew no limit.

"Let him go!" she strung back the bow, energy flowing through the weapon as the magic within it began charging up. "I said let him go!"

Serpentress lessened its grip on the prey in its mouth, but it didn't listen to her. It only crept closer, using Noel as both bait and a human shield to get in closer to her.

Within those hungry gold eyes, intelligence thrived. Though it actions weren't agile as Serah had known it to be, moving unusually more passive than more. The red markings on the snake's scale, they weren't as illuminated or define, and there were injuries carved amongst them, _lacerations_.

As distance between her and Serpentress narrowed, she noticed below the snake's jaw, there was a broken remains of a spear-like object sticking out from between the scales; along with several other smaller ones down its spine.

Somebody else had attacked it?

The snake's jaws suddenly fell open, dropping Noel several feet to the ground, where the young man landing roughly on his back without so much as a whimper from the impact. And with angry hiss, Serpentress lunged for her.

Serah tumbled back, her hand releasing the strings on the bow as she fell, and in doing so, a magical arrow flew forth, piercing Serpentress's belly and cutting off its attack as the snake flailed its body in agony.

It worked this time! The bow really worked!

She had a weapon!

Getting a grip on her nerves, Serah took aim and shot another one, this time hitting higher up, close to the snake's head. It sent the Serpentress into an even madder frenzy, quick to turn its suffering on her and lunged again, nearly snapping Serah up in its mouth.

She dived out of the way, wincing when the tiny fragments of crystal in the soil dug into her side. The pain it brought immobilized in those few seconds she struggled to stand. She was barely halfway up when a shadow casted on her, and she saw Serpentress was already rising, preparing to take her out.

Her hands grip on the bow, willing with her mind a single word.

_Sword!_

It transformed, the two ends of that bow binding together into a blade just in time for Serah to swing the weapon up, slicing the snake's mouth and shattering several of its teeth, forcing it back.

Not having time to pull the pieces of crystal from her bloodied skin, Serah willed the sword back into a bow and raised the weapon once more at the thrashing snake, taking careful aim…

When out of nowhere, the ground began to shake.

It was like nothing Serah had ever experienced; her balance unable to compete with those the powerful tremors that soon had her tumbling down on her hands and knees. The forest around her groaned and creaked; twigs and leafs falling all over that clearing as entire branches came away. And before her, huge cracks started to run rigid in the pillar, spreading up the crystal like thin ice on a lake about to give out underfoot.

Cocoon, was it…?

"No, please not yet!"

Serpentress was too distracted by the quakes to pay Serah any mind; its head whipping around confused and hissing angrily when a huge chunk of crystal from the pillar crashed down onto the clearing near to the snake's tail. Fragments were blasted out everywhere as more crystal fell through those white clouds, sharp pieces nearly hitting Serah in the face as she raised her arms in front of herself for protection.

Debris from the pillar fell short of the unconscious young man lying some meters away, several coming dangerously close to crushing him.

"Noel!"

Away, they had to get away from here! Now, or they'd be killed!

Fighting against the tremors, Serah hurried over as quickly as she could, staggering and stumbling the whole way while more crystal rained down from the pillar like giant hail stones. She dropped the bow on reaching Noel's side, collapsing on her knees at the sight of those gaping stab wounds he had sustained to his chest and thighs from being in the snake's mouth; the amount of blood alone more than enough to crush the heart in her chest.

Her hand went to his face, but he didn't respond to her touch.

"Noel…?"

* * *

><p>Look out<p>

* * *

><p>Serah threw herself on him, shielding Noel with her body when crystal debris the size of a Time Gate crashed into the ground next to them, showering flesh-cutting shards over the pair.<p>

More and more sections of the pillar was breaking off; dozens of them shattering like crystal fireworks, revealing more of the tree locked within to have been eaten away by decay. It crumbled apart before her eyes; its branches snapping off in an explosion of wood and crystal, little left to support the dead tree up.

But not even Cocoon impending destruction was to stop Serpentress for long. The injured snake soon on the move again, arching its back high with a hiss, fangs ready to strike the two humans in its sight.

"No!" Serah made a grab for her bow, trying to overcome the shaking of that planet long enough to get in a good shot. Yet she hadn't the need to waste an arrow, for in that moment, a massive piece of crystal fell from higher up the pillar, landing on the snake's body with spine breaking force_._

Serpentress let out a loud hiss, attempting to wrench itself free, only for more of the pillar to fall on the reptile, slamming onto the snake's skull. Serah lost hold of the bow, turning to protect Noel from the crystal dust cloud to smother them in the fallout; wincing at the pebble sized clumps to struck at her back. And she listened on, shaking in the fear as the snake to have caused them so much suffering and torment, disappeared in an avalanche of crystal, crushed beneath what remained of that once beautiful pillar, brought to ruins.

The ground, stilled…

Coughing, Serah wiped the crystal dust from her eyes, cringing at the sight of Serpentress's crushed tail poking out from the huge mountain of glass-like rubble, just scarce of killing them both. No movement came from the rubble, no life from what little she could see of that snake's body. It was dead, it was finally gone…

Close call didn't quite cut it.

In the destruction from that branch of pillar, a snow flurry began to fall softly over the clearing. But snowflakes they weren't, for they didn't feel cold or melt on contact with Serah's skin; the flakes almost grainy to touch. It took a while to figure out that they too were specks of crystal, all of them glowing, like tiny fireflies over the forest, where the tremors to have shaken the planet were no more.

If Cocoon was to fall, it wasn't to be today.

"Se…rah…?"

A faint cough spurted out, movement shifting from the body in her arms.

"Noel!" Carefully Serah supported the young man up in her arms, rubbing the crystal dust away from his face "I'm here, Noel I'm right here. It's me."

He was conscious, those blue eyes open and staring up at her as if having woken from a deep sleep…but, those eyes were hollow and empty, almost seeming stare straight through her, as if Noel could barely see her at all.

No.

Serah grasped his sickly pale hand, squeezing it when Noel suddenly went into a violent coughing fit, struggling to breathe; his lungs not taking in the air properly. And he brought up something dark, slipping down from the corners of his mouth; **blood**.

"Noel..."

She bit down on her tongue, stopping herself from assuring him everything would be okay, that he had nothing to be afraid of now that she was with him. Serah could almost believe those words, thinking them…but Noel wasn't okay. Perhaps he had stood a better chance if she had left him somewhere safer than in that tree, somewhere Serpentress wouldn't have found him. But now in the condition Noel was? Serah didn't have to be doctor to be able to tell that the wounds he had gotten from the jaws of that reptile were fatal; that he was probably suffering internal bleeding somewhere from injuries that not even magic could fix.

Even if Serah was to give him the antidote, it wouldn't do him any good now…

Noel's lips moved, his voice barely loud enough that she had to crane her neck to hear him clearly. Just one word he was able to whisper out, and nothing else.

"Sorry…"

Serah gathered him closer in her arms, unable to fight the tears. "Don't say that. It's not your fault, it never was. It's me, I should've…I…"

Weakly she felt Noel's cold fingers squeeze at her hand, the young man looking at her in desperation to say more, but the words wouldn't come. Only more coughs replaced them; airways clogged up with the same dark liquid bleeding out from the rest of his broken body, and there was nothing that Serah could do about any of it. She wanted to scream, cry out for help, but no one would come, not even Caius. Even still, she kept glancing up, as if expecting to see the Guardian there or someone else that could rescue him. But it was just them, the two of them alone in that dying forest. Nobody would come running, not even her sister...

This couldn't to be happening. Noel wasn't supposed to die, not him! They were meant to change the future together and meet her sister in Valhalla. He wasn't meant to be dying in her arms in a place like this…why, why did she have to be so blind, so stupid!? Letting him get so close to her, it was all a big mistake! If she had just let him go and taken Snow's hand, Noel would be happy, he would be safe.

She'd killed him, she had damned them both.

"I'm sorry, Noel…I'm so sorry…"

He blinked at her, confused maybe, she couldn't tell. The watery sheen in his eyes and the way he clung to her hand for dear life told her enough on what he couldn't say. Yet with death looming over him, still Noel made the futile efforts to talk, only to bring more suffering on himself as he battled to hold onto the living world. And slowly, he was losing.

Tears splashed on blood stained skin, where a thin layer of crystal snow shimmered softly, blanketing them and everything within that forest in a beautiful blue diamond glow as those crystal flakes continued to fall from the heavens.

So much needed to be said, but not the time to tell it...

"Don't leave me, please don't go," Serah held him tighter, sharing her warmth with him, _willing_ it into his body. "Stay with me, Noel. Please, I need you..."

His body felt cold, so little life left in him that he was unable to hold onto her anymore; a flash of emotion crossing young man's tired face as those hazy blue eyes grew more distant, looking passed her.

Water dripped onto her shoulder from above, trailing down her arm…_**red**_?

Serah snapped her head upwards, spotting something big curled up in one of tree overhanging the clearing, seconds before it came swooping down, and she saw darkness...

Agony drowned out her screams as blades stabbed into her back and torso, through skin and muscle, chipping bones as jaws clamped shut, crushing her. And through broken blood vessels, Serah felt the scorching heat of that venom flowing into her blood, up to her racing heart.

No, it wasn't impossible!

Serpentress tossed her away as easily as a ragdoll, throwing her body over the pile of crystal debris. A loud _crack_ sounded out from something breaking in her hip and shoulder in hitting the ground on the other side, as Serah rolled to a stop face down in the dirt, and didn't…_couldn't_, get back up.

The pain was immense, eating away at every part of her that to breath was near impossible. It hurt, it hurt so bad it was all Serah's shell-shocked mind could focus on as she laid there, staring blankly as those tiny flakes of crystal lying inches from her face, as if the world had ceased to be.

How could this be happening? It was dead, she saw it die!

A pool was gathering beneath her, spreading out on that crystal covered soil; fresh diamond flakes falling into it, sinking in a sea of red. Serpentress had struck a deadly bite. She was losing too much blood, _too quickly_. Either the venom would claim her, or Serah would bleed out, and it was quickly becoming obvious to her frightened mind which one between them would win first.

'_You can go. But you have to come back in one piece, promise?'_

It was over. She was never going to go home.

Serah could hear it beyond the rubble, the excited hisses of that snake beginning to slither down the tree creaking from its weight on the other side of the clearing. Soon it would come for her and finish her off; and Noel too, if he was still…if Serpentress wasn't already…

It had been messing them the whole time. Food to be toyed with, that's all that murderous snake ever saw them as. She hated it. Even as she laid there with the life bleeding out from her, Serah wanted it dead, more than she had ever wished on taking a life, human or monster.

She couldn't let it end like this, being prey to be hunted and eaten. She refused to go down that way. If they were to die, then Serah would bring it with them.

Serpentress died once before, it could do so again.

Barely able to breathe, her hands squeezed into fists, only for her eyes widen in surprise on feeling the cool touch of metal in her left. Suppressing the cries of agony it brought upon her body with each blood filled cough, Serah slowly raised her head, and saw that a familiar weapon was lying at her side.

"M...Mog…?"

Her bow, how did it…

* * *

><p>Don't give up, Serah<p>

You can do it

* * *

><p>Another hiss her ears picked detected, closer than before.<p>

Time was short...

Serah clenched the bow with all her strength, her will fighting against the pain that was zapping away her energy. And onto her side she rolled, blood sticking to her skin; her hair, the taste copper in her mouth. Onto her good arm Serah tried to force herself up on, only to heave forward, vomiting up more red.

Her body screamed for defeat, but wouldn't have it.

For Noel, she had to do it.

Serpentress gave out a long hiss as it slithered its way around that huge mountain of crystal debris, its long tongue whipping out across the air, tasting victory within it. Until the snake froze, gold reptile eyes narrowing on discover its wounded prey was up on her knees, holding that elegant bow with a fully charged arrow pointed directly at it.

For Noel, who gave her hope…

Vision blurry, arms shaking, Serah let out a cry as she released that magical arrow, watching it tear through the air like a shooting star, moments before it pierced into the scaled flesh and bones of Serpentress's skull…or _should_ have.

The moment the arrow made contact with the snake, the reptile was devoured in a burst of light. And the arrow instead, fired off into the forest, its light disappearing amongst the glow of the crystal flurry, too far for Serah to see.

Serpentress had disappeared.

"N-no…!"

Serah strung back the bow as if to fire again, fearing her mind to be playing tricks, but her body wouldn't comply; a sudden loss of control and strength sending her collapsing onto the dirt, the bow clattering away from her.

The crystal snowflakes, stopped falling...

A heartbeat drummed heavy in her ears, beating wild to keep up with the demands it was succumbing to. Everything was getting so dark; so cold, like she was slipping into a void where the pain from those broken bones and the snake's wrath didn't hurt anymore. It all just disappeared, a bliss settling over the fog in her mind, calling forth a dreamless sleep.

No, no she couldn't go, not yet! Noel, she had to get him. Serah didn't want him to die alone. He was there now, somewhere beyond the rubble where she couldn't see, all on his own…but there was nothing left in Serah to give to even try and reach him; to take those steps needed to get there…

She was dying.

And as she laid there struggling to draw breath, the same fear of death overcame her as when she had been turning into a crystal, and Serah realized, she was never going see her sister again, or tell her how much she had missed her. They would never go back home to New Bodhum together, never see the looks on her friends faces as they'd welcome them back in open arms. Serah would never get the chance to find Snow again; to tell him how sorry she was for everything, and how she still felt about him. And Noel, he would never know a thing at all at how much he really mattered to her...

Through the blurry dark haze clouding over her vision, there was movement; a figure stepping out from the forest, coming towards her. Along the ground Serah dragged her arm, reaching out towards the shape, as her sight went completely...

"Claire…help me…"

Her lungs forgot how to breathe.

* * *

><p><em>It had been night when they exited from the Time Gate, the stars out in all their glory, and there the two time travelers and their moogle were, right on the outskirts of the thriving town by the coast, with the light of Cocoon's pillar in the distance, shinning brighter than the moon. <em>

_It was New Bodhum, not that of Serah's time period, but 200AF _

_A shock it was, seeing her small village transformed, with little trace of how Serah remembered it left except for the name both carved and painted on a sign into town. There were docks bearing hundreds of boats bobbing on those dark waters; streets with neighborhoods and market places; and people, so many people. It had all been a lot for Serah to take in, to even imagine her settlement of a few hundred would become that of a few thousands long after they passed on._

_Such a draw the town was and the temptation to wander in being strong, Serah had declined in visiting it. When Noel had questioned why, she said it was because she didn't want to spoil herself, though in truth it was because she was afraid, in case anything of her life survived 200 years on, and she winded up discovering whether or not she or Lightning returned home, or if Snow survived the curse of a l'Cie._

_Serah hadn't told Noel that at the time; the reasons why she was so insistent to turn her back on the town after getting so close. Though by how easily he'd let it go, Serah figured it must've been aware something was troubling her, as Noel hadn't pressed the matter further. _

_And of course, their mission came first, before leisure, they had to remember that._

_So instead, the trio had chosen to go and find the artefacts Mog's bobble was reacting to; spending their time trekking through farmlands and the wilderness, while fighting some monsters along the way, and solving the paradox of a Gogmagog that just didn't know when to quit. They had found two artefacts in total, and both their matching gates; one right by the shore a few miles from the town, and the other right at the top of a high hill. _

_Two paths through time they could go, and having already activated the gate by the shore, they were torn over which path to take. As such, all three had sat down to take a breather after all their hard work, before reaching a decision. But if anything, it was Serah who had requested they relax, for reasons not to do with rest, but those of the distant coastal town still calling to her from all the way out on that hill._

_There was both appreciation and gratitude in her, at being given such an opportunity to see New Bodhum's future and to be able to sit there and admire the view. Yet sadness too had engraved itself deep in her heart, for fears and doubts of the things still not in full sight._

_If it weren't for other fellow time travelling companions being there, Serah might've cried._

"_Noel, will you miss me when I'm gone?"_

_The young hunter had looked to her surprised, those ocean blue eyes aglow in the night._

"_Serah?"_

"_Uh, not in that way. I'm not, I mean…" her hand had gently stroked the back of Mog's head from where the moogle slept peacefully on her lap, staring out at the town lit up in the night. "It's just, I've been thinking a lot lately about the three of us, and the future after we reach Valhalla. I…I'm…I'm scared."_

_Closely Noel had studied her, his hair blown softly across his face by the wind. "About saying goodbye?"_

"_Yeah…"_

"_I see," his attention drifted, fingers brushing over the bracelet laced up on his forearm, touching at the blue bead on his finger. Over and over he rolled that small bead, his thoughts seeming miles away. "Well, you wouldn't be alone there."_

"_You've been worried too?" Serah had asked._

_He'd stopped, giving a small nod. "On a number of things, yes."_

_Serah hesitated "Do you mind me asking on what…?"_

_Down at his side, Noel had let his arm fall, staring out at the town. "Perhaps another time, another place…but, if there's anything I've learned, is that goodbyes are always the hardest. I've been through many in my life, and it never gets any easier."_

"_Yeah, they're not all that easy for me either," Serah had confessed; the moogle curling up like a cat in her lap with a sigh of content from his dreams. Gently, she'd held onto his tiny paw. "It gets to me, knowing I'll never see or talk to someone again. Things like those last words or a last glimpse. Even people I meet just in passing, I…"_

_She'd breathed the salty sea air in deep, the stars above enchanting._

"_You never answered my question."_

"_Huh?"_

"_If you'll miss me, when this is over?"_

"_Ah…"_

"_Serah glanced over at the young man, trying to catch his eye. "Well, will you?"_

_It seemed an eternity before Noel finally tilted his head to one side, lips bearing a smile as warm as the sun they had watch set in the era before that, his expression cocky._

"_Will I get expelled if I say otherwise?"_

"_No of course not! Come on, I'm being serious!" Serah giggled, roughly nudging his shoulder; only for them both to be cut off from saying anymore by the sound of an explosion from far away, loud enough to wake the dozing moogle from his sleep._

"_K-Kupo!?"_

_In the sky over New Bodhum, had been a blossom of blues and violets lights, soon to be joined by more, an explosive burst of lights filling the night in an array of colors. It was a sight Serah hadn't seen in a long time, bringing forth the magic and wonder they had given to her the first time seeing them as a child._

_Noel had leapt to his feet, like a soldier ready for battle. "What on Pulse is that? What's going on?"_

_His reaction had made Serah nearly laugh, more than Mog's own confusion. _

"_You've never seen fireworks before, Noel?"_

"_Fireworks?" the word sounded so foreign on his tongue, too innocent for someone his age._

_Smiling, she'd elaborated. "They're used for festivals and special occasions. It's like a form of celebration people can go and watch in the sky."_

"_So, they're not…"_

"_They're fine, don't worry."_

"_Oh, good" sheepishly the hunter sat back down, soon to become mesmerized by those fireworks in the sky to have exploded in their burst of patterns, sizzling out into darkness with more enchanting ones replacing them; popping like firecrackers. "Had me thinking the town was under attack for a second there."_

_Again, Serah had giggled. "I guess that's understandable really, being new to all of this."_

"_Yeah," Noel smiled, leaning forward, as if having wanted to reach out and grab those fireworks from the sky; his face never hiding its fascination. "Well, they sure are something..."_

"_Kupo," the moogle agreed, having settled comfortably once more on Serah's lap to watch the display that the young man too was in awe by, both unable to peel his eyes away from those colorful fireworks that meant more to Serah than the two would ever understand._

_A hand Serah had risen to her chest, closing it around the pendant of her engagement necklace as she'd closed her eyes, reminiscing of times with those she longed to meet again. And that perhaps someday, they would be a fading memory no more._

_Seeing those fireworks, rekindled that hope._

"_Yeah, they really are…" _

* * *

><p><strong>Witness to times forgotten, restorer of lines disjointed.<strong>

**The light that pierces the enveloping gloom of time, and illuminates the truth...  
><strong>

* * *

><p><em>Daughter of Chaos Arc: Complete<em>

_Next Arc: Servant of Time_

_**To be continued in Chapter 9 - Echo…**_


End file.
